Colaba’s Iconic Rooftop Restaurant Koyla Has Been Demolished

The fire that broke out in 1 Above has led the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to tighten its leash and the civic officials have been shutting down and demolishing restaurants in Mumbai ever since the incident. The most recently demolished among these is the iconic rooftop restaurant in Colaba – Koyla.

The Restaurant Allegedly Flouted Norms

According to a report by The Quint, the civic officials had alleged that the rooftop restaurants was serving food and hookah illegally and asked it to be shut down along with asking for permissions. Koyla is owned by Farhan Azmi and he didn’t take the demand for permissions sitting down and posted the legal permissions for the rooftop restaurant on social media.

Not a single incident causing harm or posing #Danger to any 1 has been reported. No #fire #Accidents or even #Food poisoning for that matter, yet the BMC is making an example out of me like many other restaurants in the #Mumbai who also have all requisite permissions besides…

— Farhan Azmi (@abufarhanazmi) February 1, 2018

this service area approval, which they are not issuing even though the #commissioner as per the circular (in pic)is urging all ward officers to act at the earliest. Pls don’t believe the @MumbaiMirror who is being mislead by #BMC to save more heads of their own. Contd… pic.twitter.com/NctzqHEks1

— Farhan Azmi (@abufarhanazmi) February 1, 2018

A report by the Mumbai Mirror had stated that the first inspection conducted at Koyla was on 30^th December last year and the latest on 15^th January wherein the restaurant got a clean chit from the BMC except for the permissions. “During the inspection of the restaurant, which operates from the terrace of Kamal Mansion near Radio Club in Colaba, our team found tables, chairs, counters, etc, due to which it became evident that the restaurant was cooking food and serving hookah on the terrace, which is illegal,” said Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Commissioner of A Ward to The Indian Express.

When ur restaurant gets broken to the ground even though u hav all licences and safety exits 😭 #koyla

— Ayesha Takia Azmi♡ (@Ayeshatakia) February 1, 2018

“We had, on 30 December, seized the tables and chairs and the counters. However, we have received a complaint with photographs and videos, which show the restaurant has been flouting the norms again. We have issued a notice and the restaurant will be inspected again. If we find violations again, we will take legal action,” he added.

Image Source: Koyla Ethnic Cuisine