Sambalpur, Aug. 24: Sambalpur railway division plans to plant 70,000 jatropha saplings in vacant land belonging to the division in parts of western Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

“Since the rise in the price of crude oil, bio-fuel from jatropha would cut costs and leave an impact on the environment,” said Binay Krishna Patel, the divisional railway manager of Sambalpur division.

Indian Railways is prioritising on bio fuel and the programme has started in the Sambalpur division, he added.

For the first phase, 20,000 jatropha saplings have been planted at a vacant land at Kantabanjhi in Bolangir that belongs to the railway and the target is for 70,000 more saplings in the year 2008-09.

The railway officials pointed out that emission of carbon-dioxide from jatropha fuel is also 78.5 per cent less than that of diesel.

Cultivation requires less water and suits any variety of land, including fallow areas.

Hence, commercial plantation by farmers would be a profitable one, Patel sums up.