Bangalore public meeting on Bt brinjal likely to be stormy

The last in the series of nation-wide public consultation meetings on Bt Brinjal in Bangalore on Saturday is likely to be stormy with pro-commercialisation and opponents pulling up their socks to make themselves heard.

The last in the series of nation-wide public consultation meetings on Bt Brinjal in Bangalore on Saturday is likely to be stormy with pro-commercialisation and opponents pulling up their socks to make themselves heard.

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It's going to be high-voltage interaction and sparks are bound to fly in the four-hour session during which farmers groups, NGOs, technologists and others would air their views.

Farmers opposed to the commercialisation of Bt brinjal have already struck a strident note, holding protests.

Proponents of Bt brinjal are not left behind, and the PR-savvy agri-biotech firms and technologists appeared to have lined up a battery of speakers to make their point.

"We want to say it's a safe technology, responsible introduction of technology. We want to express solidarity," K K Narayanan, the immediate past president of the Association of Biotech-led Enterprises and Managing Director of Metahelix Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, told PTI.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who would be present at the meeting, has already said he would take a final decision on commercial introduction of Bt brinjal by February 10.