Mumbai: BMC finishes restoration of iconic Crawford Market clock

Crawford Market

South Mumbai's iconic clock tower of Crawford Market has finally started ticking again. The BMC completed its restoration work and started the clock on a trial basis yesterday. The clock tower had been non-functional for the last many years after some parts were stolen, and others malfunctioned.

mid-day had first reported on Dec 6, 2017, the civic body's plan to restore the British-era clock. Yesterday, all four clocks were made operational. A senior civic official from the Building Maintenance Department, which is undertaking the restoration, said, "We have fixed all four clocks. We will observe them for four days to see if there are any glitches. If all's fine, then it will be made officially operational."

Deepak Rao

Last year, conservation architect Abha Lambah had restored the Market. The civic body has planned the restoration of the 148-year-old Grade I heritage structure in three phases, to be completed by 2019. Another civic official said, "We had finalised a Nashik-based firm to get all four clocks operational. New dials have been fixed, and they will work like wristwatches. The bell, however, won't be operational."

Also read: Iconic British-era clock at Mumbai's Crawford Market to start ticking again soon

The civic body is spending around Rs 13 lakh on the work. Earlier, only one of the four clocks had all its parts intact. In another, the dial was present but arrows were missing, while in the remaining two, there was nothing.

A few important parts of the key system were stolen years ago. Earlier, the clock functioned on a key system, for which there was a designated person, who had to keep it ticking.