The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will take over security of the Hyderabad campus of Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of made-in-India Covid vaccine Covaxin, from June 14, official sources told India Today.
A 64-member team of the CISF will secure the registered office and plant of the company located at Genome Valley in the Shameerpet area in Hyderabad.
It is yet to be known whether the security cost will be borne by the vaccine manufacturer or by the Centre.
The sources said the Union home ministry recently sanctioned a proposal to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at this facility, following which the force carried out a survey.
"The organisation is an important facility when it comes to ensuring medical and health security of the country and it obviously faces a terror threat from various inimical elements. The CISF, hence, has been tasked to secure the Bharat Biotech facility in Hyderabad," an official said.
The force will be inducted at the facility on June 14, CISF Deputy Inspector General and Chief Spokesperson Anil Pandey told PTI.
India at present is administering Covaxin and Covishield (manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India), apart from small doses of Sputnik V to its citizens to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The CISF was allowed to secure private installations of public importance following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, where five-star luxury hotels and a Jewish Chabad house were targeted by members of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The force guards about 10 such facilities across the country, including the Infosys campuses in Pune and Mysuru, the Reliance IT Park in Navi Mumbai and Yoga exponent Ramdev's Patanjali factory premises in Uttarakhand's Haridwar.