Leakage in the floor to ceiling-aquarium.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Just two days after the much-hyped inauguration, India’s first underwater restaurant was compelled to shut down shop. Real Poseidon, the multi-cuisine restaurant in Ahmedabad was closed down reportedly due to a leakage in the floor to the ceiling-aquarium.
Meanwhile, alleging that the restaurant didn’t have building permission from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, authorities have asked the owners of the restaurant to produce documents to prove that they had applied for building permission.
“The restaurant will be issued a notice and we will seal it on Thursday because it has not sought the mandatory development permission under the town planning rules. The seal will remain in place until it seeks the necessary approvals needed under town planning rules. We will not allow it to operate otherwise,” Devang Desai, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services also said that they haven’t given permission to open the restaurant. Chief Fire Officer M F Dastur told Mirror, “I am yet to visit the restaurant. We have not given any permission to the restaurant. It needs to have permission from the department for fire in case of emergencies like the flooding of water and emergency exits. I learnt about the restaurant from media reports.”
The vegetarian restaurant opened on February 1. It’s built 20 feet underground and has 32 seat capacity. The aquarium is created using 160,000 liters of water and the restaurant has a total area of 3,000 square feet. Average lunch/dinner price per person is around $15.
However, Bharat Bhatt, the owner of the restaurant said that there was no leak and it will reopen on February 6.
“There were two problems. There was a problem with the circulation that made the water inside the aquarium sandy making it difficult for the fishes to be seen. Besides, there was an unexpected rush of people and calls for bookings throughout the day,” he said.
“There were also other small problems like an exposed air conditioning wire that was a small eyesore and customers suggested that we conceal it. We are taking care of unfinished work.” Bhatt added.
The restaurant offered Punjabi, Chinese, Mexican and Thai cuisine. The owner also had plans to add more marine species to the aquarium. It was constructed at a cost of around $360,000.
5 Comments
I feel sad for the investor, soo much money, hardwork and tim goes into building something like this and then comes in regulation!!!????
I hope its reopened by now!
Amazing restaurant. Congrats and municipality should stay away from such good projects.
I like it your underwater restaurant
Great initiative. I hope that the restaurant can produce good quality food and service to match it’s looks.