ZERO CARBON emission, hundreds of litres of diesel saved and just 5 paisa spent on every passenger per kilometre.
“The operational cost of the boat, Aditya, is Rs 163 per day against a diesel boat’s Rs 7,000. Our estimate is the annual operational cost would run into just Rs 60,000, while a diesel boat’s cost for the same period would be Rs 24.5 lakh,” says Shaji Nair, director of Kerala’s water transport department.
The first such boat was launched some six months back. Encouraged by the results, after a performance review, it has been decided to have 10 more solar powered boats in the backwaters in Kerala. Other areas where there is a big use of boats should also adopt this. Like on Varanasi ghats there are hundreds of diesel powered boats which can be replaced by such solar powered ones. Even NGOs should rope in their energy for this - to save the environment.
Read more of this report from Kerala by Arun Janardhanan published in The India Express....
