Heritage alarm rings: Mumbai's vintage clocks run out of time

Mumbai: Time is running out for the city’s vintage clocks, but no one seems to notice. Such is the apathy towards the clocks that the civic body does not even know about the existence of some.This squandering of the city’s heritage has been highlighted in an RTI query filed by social activist Aziz Amreliwala, who was earlier instrumental in getting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to repair the Crawford Market heritage clock tower.
Amreliwala has sought details from the corporation on repairs carried out on three South Mumbai clocks at Bora Bazaar, Birla Krida Kendra, and Crawford Market.Let alone answer his query, civic departments to whom the query was forwarded could not even find records of the first two clocks.“These clocks have been forgotten despite them being an important part of the city’s history,” said Amreliwala, adding the Bora Bazaar clock stopped ticking in 1988, while the floral clock at Birla Krida Kendra has stood still for three decades.Built by Parsis during the Raj, the Bora Bazaar clock marked time to feed horses. “Beneath the clock was a well, where the horses were fed at fixed times,” Amreliwala said. The Birla clock was among the first structures near Girgaon Chowpatty. “Apart from it being a tourist attraction, beach visitors used it to keep track of time.”