Shah lays foundation stone of India’s second BSL-4 bio-containment facility

GANDHINAGAR: Union Home minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the BSL-4 Bio-Containment Facility at Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre on Tuesday.

This was a major milestone in strengthening the health security and biosafety framework of the country.

The chief guests present on the occasion included Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi.

Addressing the gathering, Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a new era of India’s health security, biosafety, and biosector development was beginning from Gujarat.

He said the BSL-4 facility would emerge as a strong protective shield for the country’s health sector and reflect the Prime Minister’s vision of making science and technology a core pillar of national development, beyond research and development alone.

Shah said the facility would be India’s second BSL-4 laboratory after the National Institute of Virology in Pune and the first such high-level lab in the country to be built by a state government. Coming up over an area of 11,000 square meters at a cost of Rs 362 crore, the facility will enable safe research on highly infectious and deadly viruses and significantly enhance the country’s biosecurity capabilities.

He added that the lab has been designed after studying similar facilities across the world and will also support research on zoonotic diseases, which account for nearly 60–70 per cent of infections transmitted from animals to humans.

The home minister highlighted growth in the biotechnology sector and said that India’s bio-economy has expanded from USD 10 billion in 2014 to USD 166 billion

by 2024.