BJP wants ban on endosulfan

The BJP today said that the party favours a nation-wide ban on the pesticide, endosulfan.

"BJP is with the people who are suffering due to the ill-effects of the pesticide in Kasaragod district," senior BJP leader and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said here.

BJP-ruled Karnataka government had recently banned the pesticide in the state for two months and had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to prohibit the pesticide in the country, she said.

Swaraj said Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had told her that the Centre would intervene on the issue after getting the report of Indian Council of Medical Research.

The ruling CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala has been demanding a nation-wide ban on endosulfan. The government has called for a statewide hartal on April 29 in support of the demand.

Swaraj was in the city to pay homage to State BJP vice-president BK Shekar, who died here last week.