Chennai: Chennai corporation, the custodian of clock towers in Chennai, has failed to maintain landmark structures. A visit by Deccan Chronicle to half a dozen clock tower sites revealed poor maintenance and failure of civic officials in not conducting field inspections. Except for the Royapettah watchtower, all other structures in Mint, Doveton, Pattalam and Tondiarpet were not working.
The plinth area of all the watch towers was full of trash and the adjacent roadside parks resembled like an encroached piece of land crying for attention. Local residents and vendors confirmed that no one attends these structures dating back to early 1960’s and 1970’s quite popular among residents and auto drivers of north Chennai.
Clock towers (Manikoondu) are important landmark structures in north and Central Chennai. These structures played a crucial role when there were no wristwatches and cell phones, but though the structures have lost their utility, they are still a landmark among local residents and those new to the city, recalls civic activist V Sathiabalan.
“I petitioned the Chennai corporation a few months back demanding that the park adjoining the Pattallam watch tower should not be demolished. Under the pretext of road widening, the engineers demolished the park only to ensure that the new sky rise buildings got better road frontage”, he says. There is no concern for parks and watch towers anymore, he rues.
It may be noted that during the previous DMK regime the then mayor Ma Subramanian in 2009 announced the opening of more watch towers in Chennai, but the authorities shot down the proposal explaining that these watch towers no longer serve any purpose as public rely on a cell phone and wristwatch to know the time.
According to Chennai corporation sources, the electrical department takes care of the watchtowers while the maintenance of the premises is vested with the parks department of the City Corporation. Superintending engineers of the both the civic departments were not available for comments on the poor upkeep of watchtowers.
