Clock Tower Of Ludhiana Took 44 Years To Build In The Memory Of Queen Victoria
Clock Tower Of Ludhiana Took 44 Years To Build In The Memory Of Queen Victoria: People of Ludhiana might not know that it took 44 years to build this clock tower near the railway station. When the clock tower was built, it used to be the tallest building in the city and the clock tower was visible from every corner of the city.
The British built bell towers in every city in memory of Queen Victoria. The British built bell towers at the busiest places in the cities so that people could always remember their queen. At that time, technology was not so advanced for the construction of multi-storey buildings, so it took a long time to build a tall building like a bell tower.
Not only this but the sound of the hour of the clock tower was also heard far and wide in the city and people used to have a sense of time.
Construction Started In 1862
The construction work of the clock tower started in 1862. Its construction work went on continuously for 44 years and it was inaugurated on 19 October 1906 after completing its construction work.
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The clock tower is 30 meters high and has ten storeys. It was inaugurated in 1906 by Charles, the then Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, and Dewan Tek Chand, then Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana. In those days, people did not have clocks and only the sound of bells was used to inform them about the time.
Before Independence, The Duty Of The Employees Was To Ring The Bell.
Before independence, employees used to be put on duty to ring the bell in the bell tower. Later a machine was installed to ring the bell.
The clock bell kept ringing for a few years after independence and later the bell stopped ringing.
Now the bell tower has been repaired again under the Smart City Mission and now the sound of the bell has started coming again.
Not only this but now this bell tower can be seen in different shades at night through lightning.
In this, 36 types of shades have been set, which keep changing after some time at the night. The clock tower is being maintained by the tourism department and the municipal corporation.
Now It Is Called Lord Mahavir Jain Ghantaghar Instead of Queen Victoria
The clock tower used to be one of the tallest buildings in the old city even till 1990. This clock tower was earlier called the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower.
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When Giani Zail Singh became the Chief Minister of Punjab, the Jain society placed a demand before him that this bell tower should be named after Lord Mahavir Jain.
After which the Punjab government changed its name to Bhagwan Mahavir Jain Ghantaghar.
