The prominent landmark of Dehradun city, its Clock Tower is to get its six clocks fixed within the time period of one month. The work of beautification and renovating was given to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) last year after which Bridge, Ropeway, Tunnel and Other Infrastructure Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (BRIDCUL) was awarded the tender. The work was divided into two phases in which repairing and fixing of the clocks was part of phase one. However, after one complete year, it is still under process.
According to official sources, the process took so much time because of the fund issues between MCD and BRIDCUL, as a result of which the process of repairing the clocks was stalled for some time. About Rs 8 lakh has been proposed by the corporation for the repairing of the clocks which has been released by the MCD recently.
RP Uniyal, general manager of BRIDCUL Dehradun said, “The part to repair the clocks was pending as there were some issues regarding the budget. But we are in talks with the MCD and the issue has been resolved.
The repairing of the clocks is a time consuming process which is very likely to get complete within a time period of one month.”
It is pertinent to mention here that apart from being the most prominet landmark in the centre of Dehradun, the Clock Tower is also one of the major historical constructions of the provisional state capital.
The foundation stone for the Clock Tower was laid on July 24 1948 by the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh Sarojini Naidu and after five years of effort in its construction the monument was inaugurated in October 1953 by the then Union Railway Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. About 80 feet tall, the Clock Tower was designed by Hariram Mittal and Ram Lal whereas reputed constructers of the Doon valley Chaudhary Natthulal, ND Singhal and Ishwari Prasad worked hard for five years to complete the construction of the Clock Tower as per the design.
Though presently the real estate covered by theClock Tower is estimated to be valued crores of rupees, at the time of its construction the monument cost up to Rs 50,000. From the time of its inauguration in 1953, the routine maintenance of the Clock Tower has been undertaken by the urban local body. Since its inauguration in 1953 till about 1970 the ULB undertook regular maintenance of the Clock Tower as a result of which all its clocks worked properly and its bell also used to ring regularly.
The chime of the bell of the Clock Tower was a regular sound in town till 1970 after which year the condition of the clocks of the tower deteriorated and the bell stopped ringing. From 1970 onwards the working of the clocks of the tower has been occasional and erratic.
