#028 BAPATLA CLOCK TOWER

Bapatla is a small town in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Location : 16 degrees N and 82 degrees E.

November 28, 2010 will remain as a sad day in the history of the Bapatla town.

The Municipal and Revenue Authorities, the Roads and Building Officials, have used two giant proclines, to demolish the second most important historical landmark of the town, a clock tower built in 1948. The Government did the demolition ostensibly as a part of widening of the Guntur-Bapatla-Chirala Highway. The Tower was tough. The machines and 20 laborers took many hours to accomplish their task.

I have been thunderstruck , reading the news in a local newspaper.

I studied in Bapatla from 1959 to 1962 , V Standard to VIII Standard. I learnt keeping time watching at the clocktower, passing beside it, at least twice a day. I learnt the value of time from the magnificent and magnanimous hands of the Tower's Clock. Very few people had watches , alarm time-pieces and clocks in those days, not to speak of mobile phones. The clocktower was , therefore, a great benefactor.

The Tower was at a four-road junction. The Government could have widened the road, on both sides of the tower, allowing it to remain in the Centre.

I mourn the demise of the Clock Tower.