The Hindu : Centre mum on Bhopal laboratory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

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Other States - Madhya Pradesh

Centre mum on Bhopal laboratory

By Lalit Shastri

BHOPAL JULY 13. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, had strongly contested the Union Agriculture Ministry's decision to merge the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) located in the State capital with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) emphasising that the independent status of this laboratory be restored for its "optimal functioning'' but the Agriculture Ministry has chosen to remain silent on this count.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister wrote to the then Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, on November 27, 2002 drawing his attention to the importance of HSADL, which was set up in the State capital under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR). For this laboratory, dedicated to the nation in June 2000 and which is one of the 10 such laboratories in the world and the only one of its kind in Asia, the State Government had allotted 135 acres of prime land free of cost.

The Chief Minister pointed out in his letter that the Union Agriculture Ministry and officials of ICAR had realized that such a sophisticated laboratory of biosafety level-4, which is the highest category of biological laboratory in terms of safety and security, should have independent status for smooth functioning .

The review team appointed by ICAR had also recommended that this laboratory be given an independent status like other institutes under the ICAR system. In the process this laboratory was delinked from IVRI on April 1, 2001. However after one-and-half-year of independent functioning it was again merged with IVRI on November 7, 2002.

It has been more than seven months since the Chief Minister had intervened to restore the independent status of HSADL but inquiries have revealed that so far there has been no response from the Centre on this count.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's contention is that the major beneficiary of HSADL is the Union Agriculture Ministry's department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy besides other research organisations, public and private sectors and State Governments can also gain from this laboratory. There can even be collaborations with foreign laboratories, including those in the SAARC and other south-Asian countries. By putting HSAD laboratory under the control of IVRI at Izatnagar in Uttar Pradesh the basic purpose for which the laboratory has been built will be defeated, Mr. Singh has emphasised in his communication to the Centre.

HSADL was in the news recently when confronted with the SARS scare, the Director General Health Services, Government of India had entrusted the job of conducting research to this laboratory since the pathogens could not be handled by ordinary laboratories. However subsequently this project was withdrawn after the World Health Organisation had declared India SARS free.

Inquiries by The Hindu revealed that in the last 3 years, research and tests conducted by this laboratory could help in preventing the entry of "avian influenza'', which is poultry linked, through the import of pigeons. The test findings in one particular case were conveyed to the Government of India and the harsh decision to destroy the entire lot of imported pigeons had to be taken. In another instance, 150 rabbits imported by the Union Ministry of Textile were ordered to be killed after they were found infected with a disease.

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Centre mum on Bhopal laboratory