There have not been many days when we informed you about the launch of the first ever underwater restaurant of India named Real Poseidon opened in Ahmedabad. Its launch took place on February 1, 2016; however, within just 3 days of the opening, Real Poseidon was sealed officially by AMC (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation) as they did not take necessary permission of using the building.
Despite not taking civic authority’s mandatory permission for the restaurant, it started functioning. In the words of AMC deputy municipal commissioner Devang Desai, “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.”
The restaurant had allegedly begun operations in South Bopal without the necessary development permission from the civic authority. “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,” said Devang Desai, deputy municipal commissioner, AMC. The theme restaurant that seats 32 persons has 1.50 lakh-litre capacity aquarium built 20-feet below ground level.
The restaurant is below 20 feet from the ground level and 1,50,000 litres of water has been used to make this restaurant which spreads in the area of 3000 square ft. 32 people will be able to sit at one time in the 1,200 square ft dining hall and the diners will be able to enjoy vegetarian food of various cuisines such as Punjabi, Mexican, Thai and Chinese. The idea of live performances of orchestra or band is being thought about in order to entertain the diners. There are nearly 4000 species of fish and other aquatic animals which have been bought from the markets of Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot.
This underwater restaurant is the creation of Bharat Bhatt, an Ahmedabad-based businessman who claimed to have taken each and every necessary permission from AMC as well as the departments of health and fire. Nevertheless, Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services maintains a contradictory statement in this connection. As reported by Mirror, this is what M F Dastur, Chief Fire Officer, stated “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 a fire in case of emergencies like flooding of water and emergency exits. I learnt about the restaurant from media reports.”
Real Poseidon was open to public on Monday but aquarium had leaks on account of which it had been shut down. But the owner has refused the news of any leak, “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 added, “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.”
Bharat who previously had a restaurant near Cadila Bridge stated “I ran the Setu restaurant earlier near Cadila Bridge but closed it and had begun manufacturing air blowers and magnetic hammers.” He further said, “I got the idea of the restaurant from my son who is just about 12 years old. His friends had been to a similar restaurant in Dubai. I have designed the entire restaurant myself. I had even planned underwater walkways with fishes inside. However, that did not work out.”