Reacting for the first time on the rice germplasm row involving Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU) here, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi today said it was unfair to target Vice-Chancellor V.K. Patil for entering into a dialogue with Swiss-based multinational company Syngenta for research and colloboration in developing rice varieties.Such collobrative research sometimes yields good results and brings handsome returns, he pointed out. Where the V-C erred, according to Jogi, was in not taking the state government or Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahay into confidence before starting the dialogue. And so Patil was told to shelve the plan.Jogi added that he was willing to allow universities in the state to go in for research tie-ups with multinationals to take advantage of their knowhow.Asked if the charge that it was not safe to allow Syngenta to have access to IGAU’s huge rice germplasm had basis, Jogi said the V-C had showed him papers proving that the company had research collaborations with several other universities and organisations within and outside the country.
