A 75-seat bus powered by biogas will soon ferry passengers in this metropolis from March 30. The operators claim it will be India's first such bus service.

A nominal fare of Re 1 will be charged from each passenger.

The bus -- to run on the 17.5-km Ultadanga-Garia stretch -- will be one of the fleet of 12 buses to be deployed along 12 routes across Kolkata. Each bus will cost Rs 18 lakh.

The renewable fuel is generated from waste. 

"The bus gives a mileage of 20 km for one kg biogas that costs Rs 30," Jyoti Prakash Das, Chairman and Managing Director of Phoenix India Research and Development Group, an alternative energy company, told .

The initiative has been undertaken under a central subsidies plan of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.