THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister Antony Raju visited Gujarat to explore the possibility of converting the diesel-engine buses of KSRTC into Liquified Natural Gas-engine buses. He was accompanied by KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar. The duo inspected the LNG-converted buses of Gujarat Road Transport Corporation in Vadodara. The conversion was done jointly by the Gas Authority of India (GAIL) and a private company.
KSRTC has asked GAIL to convert five buses into LNG engines. They will also send drivers to Gujarat to be trained on LNG buses. Further steps will be taken after assessing the services, said the minister.
In Gujarat, GAIL gives LNG at a 10% discount or equal to the rate of diesel price in the market. The minister also visited the vehicle scrapping unit in Gujarat so as to start similar units in Kerala.