The choking will soon be over. We will have the junction scientifically done and it will be a pleasure to drive past this important city landmark christened as Jehangir Chowk in 1976. Budshah Kadal is a bridge on the river Jhelum, built in 1957, during the tenure of Late Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad.
This bridge was primarily done to connect Maulana Azad Road to the Civil Secretariat. It is just few hundred yards away from the two and a half century older Amira Kadal (redone twice). Amira Kadal served as the connection between Lal Chowk and Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) as well as the Sher Garhi Palace, a former palace of Maharajas.
Lal Chowk and HSHS were the buzz areas of 50’s, 60’s and 70’s with the High Court Complex, high end fashion shops, jewellery shops, food outlets, hotels, the SRTC and KMD bus stands, the press and many office buildings located in this area. Across Amira Kadal was the palace of erstwhile Maharajas of J&K that was later made the “Old Secretariat” which housed various administrative departments of the government of J&K. Due to the exponential growth in the population as well as the heavy rush in city centre, it became imperative to shift important offices located at Lal Chowk.
To do this the government of that time (1950’s) earmarked a huge area ahead of the Sher Garhi palace/Shaheed Gunj to as far as the Doodh Ganga area/ Batmaloo locality- that was called Gole Bagh. The place where the Secretariat building came up in 1963 was known as Usman Z.