From Jehangir Choke to Jehangir Chowk
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 Zanana Park. Subsequently many other offices done in this area included the Fire Services Department (1979), High Court Complex of Jammu & Kashmir (1987), Accountant General (AG) Office, Chief Engineers Office and the new Legislative Assembly complex (2008).
Along with these new landmark buildings and new offices, a 3 star hotel came up in 1976 named Jehangir Hotel. It is across the Budshah Bridge just a few hundred yards on the side of the old secretariat. This hotel was inaugurated by Sheikh M. Abdullah and was a major attraction in that era, the wide road in its vicinity was converted into a circular chowk, and a fountain was made, adding to the charm. Being in proximity to the Jehangir hotel, it was named the Jehangir Chowk.
This chowk has been bustling, with buses, minibuses, matadors stopping and heading or coming from various places namely towards Batmaloo, Ram Bagh/Budgam, Dalgate, Safa Kadal, Qamarwari. Slowly and steadily, this became a spot where thousands of commuters would take transport to their destinations. This brought in vendors to throng this place, as the business potential for these vendors was huge. As the traffic increased rapidly there needed to be some changes and to the benefit of many in up-city the work on a flyover from Jehangir Chowk to Rambagh was started in 2013 and completed in 2019, with many changes done from time to time. With the start of this flyover, a few changes in Jehangir Chowk became necessary, which led to the fountain being done with, and the roads upto Batmaloo, Shaheed Gunj, and towards Rambagh redone as per the space available.
Come 2016, Srinagar came under the Smart City Mission, with an aim to transform the city into an eco-friendly, resilient and vibrant hub. With it came a completely new makeover of the entire city that has been going for few years now. It is a project that is planned, executed and is being done as per the smart city specifications laid down by the authorities. However, getting a new project done by first pulverising the old one is a big task in itself and is quite different than doing something afresh. It takes time to dismantle, rearrange afresh and then redo it in a new pattern. One has to utilize what is existing and in this come many difficulties. The machinery and materials laid, the dust and dirt raised, the squeezing of the existing roads, all result in difficulties in commuting with frequent and unending traffic jams especially in peak hours. This situation has prevailed in the Jehangir Chowk vicinity making it difficult for commuters and the traffic management system for last many months. It has been a nightmare for all to negotiate the Chowk as the construction work is on, with frequent changes happening in execution. With traffic converging from all entry points, and add to this the many high end offices in this area, the choke is/was inevitable. This led many to rechristen it as ‘Jehangir Choke’ instead of the famous ‘Jehangir Chowk’.
However, let us remember that the highest attribute that the human intellect has is the ability to forget what hard it has endured - be it a loss, a strain, a temporary hardship or a mishap. Once that hard time is over or taken care of, man has the propensity to forget what all he had to endure during that lean period. It stands true for almost a long standstill we had for last many months, on the upliftment work in and around Jehangir Chowk.
Well, the authorities are doing all at the best possible. The recent decision of making a rotary is a welcome step and will go a long way to streamline the traffic flow and bring relief to the commuters. After the work is done, I am sure we will forget the hard times we had, and the newly done Chowk will make us forget the Choke we had all these months.
