Like the inner city of Lahore (Adaroon Lahore), Bhera was a walled town, surrounded by darwazas, along the Circular Road. After its Independence in 1947, Bhera spread around and outside the Circular Road in all directions. Bhera’s darwazas were reconstructed on their old sites by Deputy Commissioner, district Shahpur, Captain W .G. Davies ( 26 July 1863 – 11 November 1867 ). Before Sargodha, Shahpur was the district. District Sargodha was founded in 1903 and became tehsil in 1906, and 1914, the district headquarters of District Shahpur were shifted to Sargodha. Names of darwazas , starting from Chitti Puli Darwaza, and moving lock-wise are mentioned as under :
1. Cashmiree Gate – 1865( Chitti Puli Darwaza , facing towards Kashmir ) .
2. Lahori Gate – 1865( Ganjwala Darwaza, facing towards Lahore ).
3. Chinooti Gate -1865( Chakwal Darwaza, facing towards Chiniot ) .
4 . Peerawala Gate – 1865 ( Peeranwala Darwaza).
5 .Haji Gulab Gate – 1865 ( Haji Gulab Darwaza).
6 . Moltanee Gate – 1865 ( Laluwala Darwaza , facing towards Multan ).
7. Loharan Mori Gate – 1873 ( Loharan Mori Darwaza ).
8. Qabli Gate – 1865 ( Hindus named it Chirri Chog Darwaza, locals call it Chirri Chowk Darwaza, facing towards Kabul )
9 . Inner Ganj Mandi Darwaza – 1865
( Indrooni Ganj Mandi Darwaza), is the 9th Darwaza, which is not on Circular Road.
Note: The name of the gates with the year of construction is mentioned as per the plaques. Names used by locals are also indicated.
Pictures of darwazas are as under :
Zahid Mumtaz
