The country’s first bio-fuel outlet will be operational in Karnatakasoon. Mr.Y. B. Ramakrishna, the Executive Chairman of Karnataka StateBio-fuel Development Board informed this in Bangalore today. Speakingto media persons, he informed that Bharat Petroleum will start theoutlet on Hassan- Channapatna highway in about two months time. Thebio-fuel park situated in Hassan will supply 300 litres of bio-fuel tothe outlet everyday. The country spends 34 percent of its budget onimport of crude oil. Hence he pointed out that use of bio-fuels notonly saves foreign exchange but also provides revenue to our farmers.Speaking about the efforts of the board to encourage use of bio-fuelsin vehicles, Mr.Ramakrishna said 2200 buses of Karnataka State RoadTransport Corporation are using bio-diesal at present, which will beincreased to 5000 buses this year. He also disclosed that a bio-fuelproduction unit with a capacity of 50,000 litres has tied up withBangalore International Airport to supply bio-fuel for groundvehicles. He said they are in talks with the Airport management toutilise the bio-fuel for the 1400 taxis run there. He informed thatUttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are in forefront inproduction of ethanol which is blended with petrol and diesal. Hesaid experiment is on to blend upto 20 percent of ethanol with petroland 10 percent with diesal. Right now only five percent is blendedwith the fossil fuel.