Nagpur.
Is it not a shame for us that we can’t maintain and care for simple installations made by our fore-fathers? Another example of lackadaisical attitude can be seen when one notices the Clock tower of GMCH lying dead for many years.
Some of the senior citizens of Nagpur, while speaking to Nagpur Today claimed that the Clock tower of GMCH worked perfectly well from 1953 to 1993. However, the clock stopped working in 1993 due to the untimely heavy rains that lashed Nagpur city. The clock was repaired and started to resume its functioning in the year 2002. The clock worked perfectly well for two years and again broke down in the year 2004.
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Monday 10 Feb. 2025
The then Dean of GMCH Dr Mundhada took efforts and repaired the clock. Unfortunately, the hands of the clock got twisted as birds sat on it. So the then Government Contractor named Manish Deshmukh repaired the clock and replaced the plastic hands with metallic hands.
Whose responsibility is it to get the Clock repaired?
The onus of ensuring that all the equipments and installations function perfectly well, lies on the Dean of Government Medical College and Hospital. He is supposed to make a list of all those equipments that need repair and send the requisition to the Divisional Officer of Public Works Department (PWD). The Divisional Officer gets an approval from the circle officer and undertakes the repair work.
Sources claim that the machinery of the clock tower has gone bad and needs to be replaced. They claimed that even the machinery of the clock tower of Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) was also replaced a few years ago.
An example which should have been emulated by the organizations in Nagpur is the Raja Bhai Clock Tower in Mumbai which was installed in 1941 and is still working perfectly well. The Britishers had handed over the responsibility of maintaining the clock tower to the then Members of Lions Club. They have been maintaining the clock ever since which is ensuring that the clock functions perfectly well.
Brief history of GMCH
The present new hospital building was ready and was inaugurated on October 2, 1952, while the College Building was ready in December, 1952 and was inaugurated by the first President of India, Honourable Dr.Rajendra Prasad on March 27, 1953, and within few days, all the Departments started functioning in the present College building. The whole college is spread in 196 acres of land. The building is three storeyed, (ground plus two) and is constructed over 84,000 Sq.area. The cost of the building in those days was only Rs.42 Lacs. The bed strength of the hospital was 800. The Government had gigantic plan of Rs.2, 30, 00,000/- in those days for only education and research to make this institute one of the best institute in India. The museums of anatomy, Pathology and Preventive & Social Medicine were one of the best museums.
By Samuel Gunasekharan.
