Across India we have thousands of monuments and heritage structures of various periods, dynasties cutting across varied cultures and religions. Unfortunately, a preponderance of them are either poorly maintained or just overlooked, consequently they are being pushed to the state of dilapidation. Good news is in the past one and half decades awareness to save our heritage and monuments has been on the increase, thanks to heritage lovers, historians and INTACH. Apart from customary official apathy and laziness on the part of officials the government tourism or state archaeology departments fail to take steps to save them and convert them into interesting tourist destinations. The respective state governments allocate funds to repair, restore and conserve such historical places across the state. Before taking firm steps to save our heritage sites, it is imperative to protect first those unprotected sites by installing barricade all around them to prevent trespassers and unwanted people damaging the artifacts, etc.
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| Hyderabad clocks .shutterstock.com |
The city authorities of Hyderabad a few years ago embarked on a mammoth project of saving many of the heritage clock towers in the twin cities. The reason why there were so many clock towers in public places in many cities and towns during the colonial period was they were built specifically to honor the local king or a famous personality of that town or a visiting dignitary from the British India government. Their purposes were: 01. A clock tower was a lasting memorial for the person to whom it was dedicated, 02. It showed the time of the day or night and as it was in a prime locality, besides serving as a landmark structure, a legacy of the ruling class. 03. It would add aesthetics to the town and improve the ambiance and 04. It represents the character and culture of the local place.
In the last several decades in the ebb and flow of time and seesaw political changes, the iconic clock towers became victims and their popularity declined drastically. As their old charm and aesthetics still persist, impressive clock towers in many places are declared as heritage structures linking the present with the by-gone era.
No other Indian cities have so many public clock towers as the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Telangana have. No doubt, Hyderabad’s heritage is deeply rooted in more than a dozen such clock towers in prime areas from the pre-1948 era. Built prior to India's freedom in various shapes, size and height with imported clocks, each one of them in different localities surpasses the other in beauty, design and architectural style. In the erstwhile capital of the Nizam among the 13 clock towers, many of them are not functional for multiple reasons: 01. Lack of clock mechanics with expertise in old imported clocks. 02. Height of the tower to repair the clock, 03. Change of batteries with worn-out parts, 04. Damages of batteries due to leaks in the walls, etc due to seasonal rains, further complicated by lack of upkeep. 05. Mechanical clocks on the tower with huge dials are difficult to maintain because of periodic wear and tear, 06. A geared mechanism to move the hour and minute hand and bang the gong periodically has become obsolete and 07. Heritage structures that carry the clock need permission from ASI, etc to carry out civil work without damaging or changing the heritage features.
Their beneficiaries in those days were office goers, students, commuters and merchants and they were quite familiar with the reverberating chiming clocks, particularly the clock inside the Residency Building; the sound could be heard at far off places
The old clocks in the clock towers of Hyderabad are back again slowly taking a new avatar after years of neglect. Their hourly chiming reverberate the respective locality, making the people happy. Credit goes to the civic body and the clockmaker team who modernized them. Back in routine action was the Secunderabad Clock Tower (December 2020), the first one that got a new lease of life in 1920 , followed by the one at the M J Market.
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| Hyderabad clocks, India indiatimes.com |
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| Hyderabad clock towers,thehindu.com |
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in 2019 took a firm decision to plan and repair all the heritage clocks, including construction of compound walls on all four sides, painting and lighting. Special efforts would be made to improve the aesthetics. To begin with they would remove the encroachments which were a menacing problem and as many of the clock towers are either in a dilapidated state or non-functional, corporation officials wanted to start the work soon.
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| Fateh Maidan Clock, Hyderabad, Deccan commons.wikimedia.org |
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| Chowmahalla Palace clock, Hyderabad, India .siasat.com |
Above image: Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad, Telangana was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad during their long reign. Nizam Salabat Jung started its construction in 1750 but was completed by Nizam Afzal ad-Dawlah, Asaf Jah V in 1869. The palace originally covered a large land covering 45 acres or 180,000 sq. yards, but only now the area has come down to 12 acres or 49,000 sq. yards, Owned by Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah, heir of the late Nizam Osman Ali Khan, the amazing palace included 2 courtyard and a Durbar hall. The clock tower at the main entrance of the Chowmahalla Palace was installed in 1915. Khilwat clock, on the western side of the courtyard has been working for a pretty long time and the gate served as one of the four entrances to the palace. Council hall is nearby.................
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| Murgi Chowk Clock tower, Hyderabad, IN .indiatimes.com |
Above image: Murgi Chowk Clock tower: Built in 1892 by Asman Jah, Prime Minister of Hyderabad. in the absence of persistent maintenance, the historic structure fell on bad days resulting in severe structural damages, dilapidated railings, cracks all over the building. In Sept 2020 after nine months of major repair works, the historic Murgi Chowk clock was handed over to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for additional work..............................
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| Raja Rayan Devdi Ghadiyal clock tower in Shah Ali Banda, Hyderabad.siasat.com |
Above image: Raja Rayan Devdi Gadiyal clock tower,Hyderabad: GHMC since 2019 has been undertaking the beautification and repair works of many heritage sites, particularly the clock towers across this vast city. The renovation of clocks at Murgi Chowk, Moazzam Jahi Market having been completed, GHMC took up the repair of Raja Rayan Devdi Gadiyal clock tower in Shah Ali Banda in 2020. because total negligence the entire structure including the four faces near the clock were severely damaged. Primary cause was overgrowth of vegetation and plants on many places that caused cracks on the walls. The city authorities already removed the encroachers from the site. What is special about the clock is the dials have numerals in four languages English, Hindi, Roman and Telugu.............
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| Mahboob chowk clock tower facebook.com/ |
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| Mahboob Chowk Clock Tower Hyderabad, India. en.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Mahboob Chowk clock tower, Hyderabad: This more than 127 year old heritage structure is back to glory and in October 2018, the clock started ticking after a long gap. Thanks to the restoration work undertaken by GHMC as part of the Charminar Pedestrian Project (CPP)......................
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| clock tower M J Market in Hyderabad .thehindu.com/ |
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| clock tower M J Market in Hyderabad ndiatimes.com |
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| repair work. Moazzam Jahi Clock Tower, Hyderabad. .deccanchronicle.com/ |
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| Moazzam Jahi Clock Tower, Hyderabad. in.pinterest.com/ |
Above image: Moazzam Jahi Market, covering 1.77 acres of land, came up in 1912 itself at the initiative of ruler Mir Osman Ali Khan with a view to improving the living conditions of citizens and to remodel the cityscape and build housing complexes and gardens and removing slums. It was built by the City Improvement Board (CIB) established the Nizam. The old market complex was renovated in the recent past along with the clock tower between 2019 to 2020. The fallen hand and the electronic device were carefully fixed by a local watchmaker. GHMC was initially adamant on maintaining the same old mechanism which had become redundant. Further, expensive to maintain it. The renovated Moazzam Jahi Market was reopen to public on the day of India's independence in 2020; the cost of renovation was Rs. 15 crore.......
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| Secunderabad Clock Tower .indiatimes.com |
Above image: Secunderabad Clock Tower: The iconic 120 ft tall Clock Tower built in 1860, is the oldest among all and was a gift from one Seth Dewan Bahadur Ramgopal, whose statue is located in another island near the Paradise Hotel. The clock tower was open to public on 1 February, 1897 by the then British Resident Sir Trevor John Chichele Plowden. His 22 year old daughter Pamela courted with 23 year old military officer Winston Churchill for some time here and later the couple got married in England After major repair work, the clock synchronised with GPS, had started ticking at Secunderabad Clock Tower in December 2022...........
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| Hyderabad, India, mapsofindia.com |
Efforts are being made by the city council to make the dysfunctional clock towers functional despite odds such as shortage of funds, difficulty in procuring spares for the mechanical parts, periodic overhauling by mechanics who are familiar with the old clock mechanism.
These once iconic towers in many cities still stand as vestiges of past era - either under reign of the colonial government or under the princely states.
https://dailypicked.com/clock-towers-of-hyderabad/
https://www.siasat.com/shah-ali-banda-clock-tower-all-set-chime-once-again-city-1831969/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/78265012.cms?
https://zaubee.com/biz/fateh-maidan-clock-tower-9dqub3cz
https://imagewrighter.com/chowmahalla-palace-part-i-hyderabad-india/
