Fire guts Bio-Innovation Centre, causing a loss of at least `122 crore

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A fire erupted at the Bio-Innovation Centre in Electronic City, on Tuesday morning, causing panic among employees who quickly evacuated the building. The blaze broke out in one of the units on the second floor of the G+2 research centre around 4:35 am. No casualties have been reported, and all employees managed to exit safely after noticing the flames. The Electronics City fire station personnel arrived at the scene within minutes and tried to contain the fire. It was completely extinguished by the time additional units arrived.

However, the Information Technology and Bio-Technology (IT-BT) Department later disclosed that losses of at least Rs 122 crore had been suffered in the fire by both private and government entities. The department said that violation of protocol by a start-up on the second floor, namely Tx startup, had caused the fire. They added that the company had stored a high volume of flammable solvent in their lab when they were directed to stow the same away in a “separate open storage area”. he IT-Department said in a release said that start-ups suffered losses of anywhere between Rs 80 crore to 110 crore while the State government-owned Bangalore Bio-innovation Centre (BBC) building suffered a loss of Rs 42 crore.

The start-up Fermbox sustained damage to three laboratories as did Phyxx 44. Immunitas suffered damage to two labs. Start-ups such as Ajitha pro-drug, Galore Tx, Ikesia, Yokogawa lost a lab each. Several other startups namely Atrimed pharma, 4basecare, Anabio, Anava Bio, Pandorium, Oxonexe Presude Lifesciences, Zhichu among others, also suffered losses.