JNCASR turns into puddle; labs waterlogged, precious samples feared wasted [details]

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday visited the inundated campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR). Labs, the library and other buildings of the premier research institute have been totally waterlogged, while machinery and equipment worth crores have been affected.

The campus and building has been completely waterlogged due to continuous rains in the city. Employees at the JNCASR said that precious samples collected from across the country have been laid to waste because of waterlogging.

"The research on HIV has been going on for 20 years. We have also started research on coronavirus for two years. The samples were stored in a minus 80 degree deep freezer. Due to the heavy rains, water inundated the whole place. The power has to be cut and the temperature levels have come to minus 30 to 40 degrees from minus 80 degrees," employees explained.

"All the samples have been shifted to different freezers. But we have to now check each sample and see how many of them are still useful. The loss of samples would impact the entire chain of research, for example if we lost of a sample from the 90's, where will we find this person"

One of the employees on Twitter, giving stock of the issue, stated that "years of work literally washed away overnight." It is reported that due to power cuts and waterlogged labs, the equipment have failed. The accumulated water is said to be knee deep, which means anything on the ground level is as good as wasted.

The employees who are trying to move things to a safer place face the fear of snakes and insects in the water.

CM Bommai assures help

Chief Minister Bommai took a tour of the institute along with JNCASR Director G.U. Kulkarni.

Bommai stated that special attention would be given to restore the institution.

"Contribution of scientific research is immense to society. I have been informed that, due to water logging, samples have been affected. I have sought cooperation from the institute to chalk out a master plan to mitigate the problem permanently. It is our duty to take measures to restore this institution," he said.

The institute was established by Bharat Ratna Prof. C.N.R. Rao.

(With inputs from IANS)