Gujarat asks Centre not to permit Bt brinjal

Gujarat government has appealed the Centre to defer its move to give approval for commercial farming of Bt brinjal in the country.

Talking to PTI over phone today, Gujarat agriculture minister Dilip Sanghani said, "the Centre should take into account the views of all stakeholders and conduct a long-term research on Bt brinjal crop's bio-safety and its consequent contributions to food security and farmers' well being."

Sanghani's statement follows the Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh's declaration to announce his decision on the issue on February 10. Sanghani has convened an emergency meeting of Gujarat's four agricultural universities in Gandhinagar on February 10 to discuss it with experts. 

"Why the Union environment minister should come under pressure from multi national companies (MNCs) and ignore the
opinions of huge population of the country ?" he asked.

"Why should we give up our traditional farming of brinjal and go for Bt crop which has raised bio-safety concerns and it is yet to be evaluated" said Sanghani. BJP-ruled states-Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are not in favour of acceptance of Bt Brinjal, he added.