Watching royal abode come apart bit by bit

VADODARA: A royal abode at one point of time and a place buzzing with government offices – Bhadra today is a far cry from what it used to be.


Located near Panigate, the structure is falling apart bit by bit and attempts to restore it have drawn a naught.

Bhadra is where the rulers of Baroda used to stay till about two centuries back.

After the royalty shifted to other more comfortable abodes, it was used for administrative purposes. Till around the year 2000 too, it was used by government offices. The Vadodara taluka panchayat and some offices of the revenue departments too existed here. Nobody seems to have cared for the structure after it was completely vacated.

The structure was also vandalized and some items like doors, pillars and grills were also removed from it. Today one can see collapsed pillars and slabs all around with the façade and the rooms adjoining it remaining intact. An ornate marble ‘jharokha’ on the façade bears testimony to the glorious past of the structure.

Meandering through the structure today is a daunting task and the foul smell of bat faeces is all around. Bhadra seems to be on its way to be reduced to ruins. Efforts were made for the restoration of the structure and detailed reports were prepared by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), but no concrete work took place at the site.

INTACH experts, including those from Delhi, had examined the site and prepared the reports in 2015 after being invited to do so by the then district collector Avantika Singh. The district administration was looking to get funds for conservation of select monuments including Bhadra from the state government. The idea of corporates sponsoring works on such monuments was also being examined.

INTACH state co-convener Sanjeev Joshi said that two separate reports were prepared for Bhadra. One of them was of developing a simple theatrical seating around the façade for performances. The other report was on complete restoration of the structure.

“Extensive efforts were put in for preparing the reports. The project also aimed at bringing people back to the old city by having events with the Bhadra as the backdrop,” Joshi said. But nothing was heard of the reports later.