vadodara the crime branch in bhadra in the walled city of vadodara is buzzing with activity with highprofile cases off late but most would be oblivious of the fact that the offices neighbour is the first royal abode of the city brick by brick and pillar by pillar the once magnanimous structure is being reduced to ruinsbhadra got its name as royals used to stay there the building was a busy one till around 2000 with government offices like the treasury taluka panchayat and others being located there one by one all offices were shifted elsewhere and bhadra was left alone to fend for itselfthe structure has an ornate jharokha on its facade it was the abode of the rulers till sarkarwada was constructed by the gaekwads around 1800 the bhadra was later used as an administrative buildingarchaeologist r n mehta has noted that the building came up towards the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th century he notes that it was built in a style developed after the mughal ruler shah jahan it has small rooms on the ground floor and larger ones on the upper floor that had a zanankhana darbarkhand and the room of the ruler mehta has noted in his book vadodara ek adhyayanseveral representations and even a report prepared by experts for its restoration have not led to any developments architect and convener of the vadodara chapter of the indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach sanjeev joshi who was a part of the team that prepared the report said that two reports were prepared for the monument in 2015 including that for a theatrical sitting at the site and another for a complete restoration the possibility of using the building during the vadfest was also being examined joshi saidsources said that the reports were prepared at the insistence of the district administration these were also shared with the state government but there was no development subsequently the structure has deteriorated further by now every monsoon leads to more damage in decay in such buildings a fresh assessment needs to be made joshi saidart historian chandrashekhar patil said that there was still a possibility to restore the structure the jharukha is very unique and one may not find a similar one elsewhere he said patil added that the teak pillars used in the structure were still intact