Inaugurated on February 1, India’s first underwater restaurant, Real Poseidon located in Ahmedabad, has been sealed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for want of necessary permission.
Bharat Bhatt | Janak Patel
Built in a tunnel shape, 20 feet below the ground level, the restaurant has a seating capacity of 32. A venture by 50-year-old Bharat Bhatt, an engineer, the restaurant has been built at a cost of about Rs 2 crore. The tunnel stores 1.50 lakh litre water and Bhatt claimed that it has 4,500 fish, sourced from India. He also has plans to introduce more fish and other varieties of water animals.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner AMC Devang Desai told THE WEEK that the building development permission had not been obtained. Chief Fire Officer M.F. Dastur said such places fall under special category. Apart from fire, a lot of other aspects need to be taken into consideration like leakage, glass breakage and ventilation. He said that if a feet of glass breaks even the best swimmer won't be able to help himself. Dastur said the type of glass used needed to be tested and suggestions would be given when they apply for the permission.
Bhatt could not be reached at the time of filing this report. On February 2, when THE WEEK visited the restaurant, Bhatt had informed that they were closed for a couple of days as they were experiencing problems “related to water”. While the grapevine said that some water had leaked, Bhatt said they had stalled the filtration for sometime as sand had seeped into the water, affecting the fish and water quality.
The restaurant serves Punjabi, Mexican and Chinese food. To begin with, the restaurant has kept one hour slots and the food is priced at Rs 1100.
