After we're all dead and our cities our buried under the sand, future archaeologists might dig up the ruins of Paravoor, Ernakulam and find a maze which leads to a board that says Aishwarya Restobar. This will surely leave them scratching their heads. Who builds a maze outside a bar, after all?
However, this unique construction came up because of some ingenious thinking. The owner of Aishwarya restobar built the maze because of the recent rule that highways cannot have places serving alcohol.
Recently, the Supreme Court ordered closure of liquor shops and bars within 500 metres of national/state highways while hearing a PIL (public interest litigation) filed by NGO Arrive Safe. The NGO had said that a majority of the 1.42 lakh deaths due to road accidents in the country annually, was due to drinking and driving.
Following this, several bars, and even five stars hotels, had to stop serving liquor, as some of the arterial roads in major cities, like Mount Road in Chennai, are notified as state highways.
Rather than give up and shut shop, the bar owner decided to take another route and build a 250-300 metre path that leads to his restobar.
The bar situated on NH 17, it seems, can now say that ‘we are not situated within 500 metres from the highway’.
Speaking to The News Minute, Shoji, the manager of the bar, said that it cost them Rs 2 lakh to do this.
Restobar isn’t the only one. Popular malls like Cyber Hub and Ambience Mall in NCR have changed the entrance to their properties. Ambience Mall has closed the entrance to the Leela Ambience Hotel, and visitors have to drive around the residential complex before entering the hotel, reports HT. The entrance to Cyber Hub in Gurgaon has been moved so that the distance is more than a kilometre from NH 8.
Well, the maze might have other advantages too – it could very well serve as a method to gauge how drunk you are. If you can make your way out of it, you are fine. Otherwise, make sure you call a cab!
This story was originally published on The News Minute.
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