Why the Lohia Park bells are not tolling?

Though its very mention rings a bell, residents of Vijay and Vishal Khand in the vicinity of Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar have no idea as to why the timekeeper inside the park has gone silent?

Though its very mention rings a bell, residents of Vijay and Vishal Khand in the vicinity of Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar have no idea as to why the timekeeper inside the park has gone silent?

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The park's caretaker - the LDA-also seems to have no answers on this score. “I am not aware. I will find out from the engineer concerned as to why it (clock tower) is not functioning,” said LDA VC BB Singh.

Chief Engineer DR Yadav admitted that the issue had been brought to his knowledge only recently when preparations began to spruce up the park to mark the death anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia on October 12. “I had issued necessary instructions to the official in-charge of the park's upkeep but am not aware of the follow up action taken by him,” he said.

All the three clocks in the tower are ticking; it is only the ding-dong bells that have stopped ringing. Embedded in an 80-feet prism-shaped tower with sandstone cladding, the three especially designed clocks at Rs 5 lakh a piece were ordered by the LDA from the Johnson's of Kolkatta last year. “With Roman numerals, each clock has a diameter of around 4.5 feet,” informed an LDA official.

In fact, if sources are to be believed, the clocks inside the tower had been facing problems at the outset when they were first installed in September 21, 2005.

According to the Park's architect Mohd Shaheer, the problem had occurred last year also because of the manner in which they were mounted on the tower. Engineers from the Johnson's were summoned and asked to set it right but the gongs never really worked ever since. The engineer in-charge of the park, however, maintained that there was never any problem with the chimes. “The bells would ring only on eight days in a year. Four days each beginning from the death and birth anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia on October 12 and March 23,” he quipped.