Establishment of the International Centre of Foot and Mouth Disease (ICF&MD) at Argul on the city outskirts here has been first tracked with Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati taking a review of the project in a high level meeting held on Thursday.

looking into the details of the project, Chief Secretary has advised Project Director Dr Bramhadev to set quarterly milestones for construction of the project and appraise Government accordingly about the progress at end of each quarter. It has been decided to complete the construction by end of December, 2016. The Works and Energy departments have been directed to expedite the road and power connectivity to the project. The Chief Secretary has asked the Project Director to construct rain water harvesting structures inside the campus for ground water recharge. Pati has also advised water resource department to explore the technical possibilities of channelizing the rain and storm water outside the campus and recharge it to the ground near that place.

Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Secretary Bishnupada Sethi, present in the meeting, said that this is a dream project for the State and it will be a leading institute in Asian continent. Sethi assured all help and assistance from Government for the project.

Replying to a media query after the meeting, Project Director Dr Bramhadev said that the center is being established by Indian Council of Agricultural Research in partnership with State Government. The cost of the project at present runs around Rs 450 crore. The laboratory of the center will be a 3+ level Bio Safety Zone and its design will be unique in entire Asian continent. The center will produce vaccine-virus for treatment of foot and mouth diseases of large and small animals.