Amit Shah offers prayer at Jagannath temple, flies kite in Ahmedabad

Visuals from the event showed the Home Minister engaging with the festive spirit as he flew a kite surrounded by his family.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shah laid the foundation stone of Gujarat's first state-of-the-art Bio-Containment Facility "Bio Safety Level-4" lab as well as the "Animal Bio-Safety Level" facility in Gandhinagar, in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. On this occasion, the Minister for Science and Technology, Arjun Modhwadia, was also present.

During the ceremony, the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, granted a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Gujarat Science and Technology Department to designate the "Bio Safety Level-4" facility of the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) as the 'National Centre for High Containment Pathogen Research Facility' under the Government of India's "BioE3 Policy".

The Union Home Minister stated that a new era has begun in Gujarat for the development of India's health security and biosafety sector. After Pune, this is only the second such high-level lab in the country; however, due to the state government's special initiative, it will become the country's first state government-operated BSL-4 lab, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 362 crore. In the future, this lab will prove to be India's impregnable security shield and a strong fortress of bio-facilities to combat deadly viruses.

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision that 'science and technology should be the foundation pillar of national development', he said, "This international-standard lab will open many avenues of opportunity for researchers and youth. Especially, this lab will accelerate the "One Health Mission" initiated by the Prime Minister to prevent diseases transmitted from animals to humans." In the face of recent challenges such as Chandipura and Lumpy Skin Disease in Gujarat, a research-based, permanent security arrangement was essential." (ANI)