Secunderabad Clock Tower is a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

located in the

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

region of

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, India. Constructed in 1860 on of land, the structure was inaugurated on 1 February 1897.

History

firman A firman (; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word ''firman'' co ...

issued by

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

Sikandar Jah established the city of

after his name in 1806. To honour the progress achieved by the British officers stationed at Secunderabad Cantonment in

, the erstwhile

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

established of land for this purpose in 1860. A 120-ft high clock tower was constructed in a park of in 1896. The tower was inaugurated by Resident Sir Trevor John Chichele Plowden on 1 February 1897. The clock on the tower was donated by Dewan Bahadur Seth Lachmi Narayan Ramgopal, a businessman. In 2003, the tower was placed on a demolition list drawn up by the

Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is the civic body that oversees Hyderabad, the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the local government for the city of Hyderabad. It is one of the List of municip ...

to accommodate the increasing traffic. A senior official at this civic agency of the

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

said that they were trying their best not to demolish this structure. In 2006, the park housing the tower was chosen for renovation by the same agency. Carried out at a cost of , the park's size was reduced to widen the roads. In addition, the tower was renovated, the park was landscaped with lawns and hedges, and a waterfall was installed. The renovation was completed in 2005, and the park was inaugurated by then

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the ch ...

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in 2006. A martyr's memorial was also established inside the park in memory of the first police firing in 1969 during a separate Telangana agitation. Within a year after this, two of the tower's four clocks experienced technical problems and stopped working. The tower was declared a heritage structure in the twin cities of

. It was as a result of the efforts put by the civic agency at sites like this tower that the proposal to seek UNESCO Heritage status for

was revived. In 2006, the 200-year celebrations of the formation of

were organised by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The clock tower was chosen as the subject of the logo, which was designed by a local firm. The outline of the Clock Tower was first conceived by the students of a city architectural college. A short cinema film of 9 minutes, 30 seconds by director

Mani Shankar Mani Shankar is an Indian film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He directed works such as ''16 December'', one of the highest-grossing films of 2002, and '' Tango Charlie'', which was screened in several International Film Festiva ...

was released as a part of this celebration. The film, which relates the history of the city, features the clock tower in it. The park housing the tower also served as a venue for promoting various citizen-centric events such as a children's film festival, awareness programs among others.

References

External links

*{{usurped,
13 Historical Clock Towers of Hyderabad
} Towers completed in 1897 Tourist attractions in Hyderabad, India Tourist attractions in Telangana Clock towers in India Heritage structures in Hyderabad, India