Heritage clock removed, former royal writes to railway minister
Scion of the erstwhile Kota royal family and former MP, Ijyaraj Singh has written a letter to the Union railway minister expressing his displeasure over the replacement of a 113-year-old historical clock with a digital one at the Kota Railway Station recently.
Singh said the mechanical clock was brought from England by former Kota ruler, Ummed Singh II, in 1908 and put up at the clock tower of Kota railway station. The clock stopped working in 2008. It was repaired and its machine was replaced with an electronic machine without changing the original look. However, it again stopped working in 2017 in the absence of maintenance, which required Rs 1 lakh.
He said the clock is part of the Kota heritage. “The 113-year-old historical clock was replaced in December 2017 with a digital, which is like removing the history of Kota,” he said.
“Clock was integral part of the Kota railway station, while the new digital clock is not looking nice and it is difficult to see time in it from distance,” he said, adding that one could see time in the historical clock from distance.
In his letter to Union railway minister Piyush Goyal, Singh has urged him to get the historical clock repaired and installed at the Kota railway station. “Installation of the historical clock will ensure the future generations to have glimpse of the historical past of Kota,” he added.
Senior divisional commercial manager, Kota Railway Division, Vijay Prakash said, “We tried to repair the old clock, but when we could not get it repaired, we replaced it with digital clock temporarily.”
“If the historical clock will be repaired, it will again be kept at its original place at the Kota railway station,” he added.
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