Fire at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre damages properties worth Rs 110 cr: Minister Kharge

PTI, Jan 15, 2025, 9:46 AM IST

A fire broke out at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC) on Tuesday morning and there were no casualties, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said.

The BBC is a Government of Karnataka undertaking which is located at the Electronic City in Bengaluru.

“The preliminary estimation of loss sustained by startups ranged from Rs 80 crore to Rs 110 crore. The estimated loss to BBC properties was approximately Rs 42 crore. No loss to life,” Kharge’s office said in a statement.

The minister who holds the Information Technology and Biotechnology portfolio said the fire mishap occurred on the second floor of the facility which was recently revamped to house more number of startups.

The second floor was completely gutted, while extensive damage was also sustained to first and ground floors due to the interconnected HVAC lines, the Minister’s office said.

The fire severely damaged common infrastructure of BBC, including the Bangalore Bio Bank, Cleanroom facility, Flowcytometry, HVAC units, AC units, among others.

Various equipment of the Incubated startups were also damaged, according to the minister.

“The list of startups gravely affected includes – Fermbox (3 labs), Phyxx 44 (3 labs), Ajitha prodrug (1 lab), Galore Tx (1 lab), Ikesia (1 lab), Immunitas (2 labs) Yokogawa (1 lab). Several other startups were also affected (Including Atrimed pharma, 4basecare, Anabio, Anava bio, Pandorium, Oxonexe Presude Lifesciences, Zhichu among others,” the statement read.

The fire in the startup room on the second floor broke out “due to improper management of flammable solvent in the lab”.

“All BBC startups were previously informed not to store and use any large volume of inflammable chemicals in their labs and a separate open storage area was provided for the same,” said the statement.