LUCKNOW CALLING : The Ghazi-Uddin-Haider Canal

"LUCKNOW CALLING : The Ghazi-Uddin-Haider Canal"

A wide open drain runs through  the outskirts of Lucknow zoo and enters the Raj bhawan estate. Cutting across the north eatern edge of the estate,

it runs  along the back of Mall Avenue and Purana Quila. Then it turns south, cutting across the station road and going  to chhitwapur, further into the Charbag area and beyond. This stinking, slums infested, drain is famously known as Gaziuddin Hyder canal.

Lucknow was an insignificant place in north India until Asaf-ud-daula, the wazier Nawab of Oudh
moved his capital from Faizabad to Lucknow. And then a metamorphosis  started taking place.

A little later  Ghazi-ud-din Haider, the first Nawab Wazier, who had been  raised by Lord Hasting to the dignity of King of Oudh in 1818, assumed the reins of power. In his time Lucknow   became a great  Imperial city of the Nawabs. Gaziuddin Haider   facelifted the city with landmark buildings - among them being the majestic Chattar Manzil, the Mubarak Manzil and the Shah Manzil in the Moti Mahal complex . He also constructed the tombs of his parents, Sadat Ali Khan and Mushir Zadi Begum.  For his European wife, he constructed a European style building known as the Vilayati Bagh. Another creation was the Shah Najaf Imambara (1816),

his mausoleum, on the bank of the Gomti. This mausoleum was a copy of the fourth Caliph Ali's burial place in Najaf, Iraq.

The Canal was indeed the most ambitious project undertaken by Ghaziuddin Hyder. The idea was to construct a link canal that would  connect the river Ganga in Kanpur with the river Gomti in Lucknow. A canal was constructed across the heart of the city but had to be abandoned subsequently due to faulty engineering, the gradient being defective, defeating the purpose for which it was intended.

Having failed to link the Ganga,  the Canal came to serve the purpose of the main arterial drain into which smaller drains  from various colonies of Lucknow empty their muck as it flows into the river gomti. In course of time it accumulated lot of filth and acquired a distinct stink . Unauthorised hutments cropped up along the canal leading to sprawling dirty slums.

A few years back a drive to beautify the city took place. As a result  of this programme, a long stretch of area lying along  the back of Mall Avenue got face lifted.

Slums were cleared and  a neat wide flyover was constructed above the canal. The area was beautified with lamp posts , flowering trees and shrubs and side lanes. (see photos).  The idea was novel and besides transforming the dirty, slum infested, nala area into a nice neat stretch it vastly eased traffic congestion on the busy havelock road.

The legacy of Ghaziuddin Hyder has, thus,  acquired another, modern,  identity -The Ghaziuddin Canal Flyover - giving a fresh lease to the legend of the Lucknow Nawab !

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