The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) – Pashan campus will now be guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the organisation that protects the country’s airports, seaports, and other sensitive installations.
With the ICMR-NIV campuses being important from the point of view of biosafety and biosecurity, authorities found it vital to strengthen the security coverage.
The ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, has played a critical role in responding to public health emergencies in the country since 1952. “There is a need for stringent biological and physical security at the campus,” Dr Sheela Godbole, Director In-Charge, ICMR-NIV said.
The apex virology institute has many unique facilities that are extremely sensitive and important for the country in terms of biosecurity – for instance, the Virus Repository, a Biosafety Level (BSL)-4 facility.
The facility at the premises of the Microbial Containment Complex at Pashan has been tremendously useful in investigating various outbreaks of highly infectious diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), avian and pandemic swine influenza, Nipah virus, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus and others. India’s laboratory-based response to Covid-19 was led by ICMR-NIV.
The Covid pandemic has highlighted the need for serious biosecurity measures to protect human as well as animal health and the environment. “It was found necessary to upscale the security coverage in both campuses. Hence a decision was made by the Council in consultation with the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, to depute CISF officials for round-the-clock security of ICMR-NIV,” Dr Godbole said.
The ICMR-NIV will be the 358th unit to be guarded by the CISF. An induction ceremony was held on January 10 when the CISF officially took over the security of the campus, which holds the high containment (BSL-3) and maximum containment (BSL-4) laboratories.
