Patna, March 9: Following the intervention of chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Centre has stopped the field trials of BT maize in the state and has also directed the authority concerned not to go ahead with the trials of such products without giving adequate time to the state to express its opinion on the issue.

Nitish, after going through media reports on BT maize trials in Begusarai and Bhagalpur, had called on Union environment and forest minister requesting him to stop the field trials. “Following your phone call in the morning on March 5, I have instructed the chairman of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee to immediately cancel the field trials for Bt maize in Bihar,” Jairam Ramesh said in his letter to Nitish.