Hyderabad: 130-year-old clock on Charminar damaged

The security personnel deployed at the 433 year-old monument noticed the damage to the clock, suspected to have been caused by pigeons which flock around the clock.

Hyderabad: The white dial on the eastern side clock of the historic Charminar was damaged on Monday.

The security personnel deployed at the 433 year-old monument noticed the damage to the clock, suspected to have been caused by pigeons which flock around the clock. On being alerted, the authorities took up the repair which was done by Tuesday afternoon.

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Ghulam Mohammed Rabbani of Wahed Watch at Mahboob Chowk along with his colleague Madhusudhan Chary, had done temporary repairs to the more than 130 year-old clock.

“On being informed about the damage to the dial of the clock, we attended to it today. A special glue paste was used to join the broken dial and restore it to its near original semblance,” Rabbani told Telangana Today.

The four clocks on the Charminar were installed in the year 1889 during the reign of the sixth Nizam, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, and are displayed in four cardinal directions. Of the four, only the one facing Gulzar Houz has a gong attached striking once every hour. “The clocks need to be in keyed every 48 hours. One of us come and do the task without fail,” said Rabbani.

The maintenance and upkeep of these clocks was previously done by Wahid Watch Company’s Sikander Khan who passed away a fortnight ago following which, Rabbani is now taking care of the maintenance works.

Wahid Watch Company was originally started by Wahid Khan, grandfather of Sikander Khan in 1942. After the rule of the Nizams ended in 1947, the clocks had stopped working due to neglect. In 1962, when the issue was brought to light, Archaeological Survey of India to get it repaired and Wahed Khan’s son Rasool Khan was awarded the contract. Since then the family and the workers at the shop have been maintaining the clocks.