A replica of Big Ben, the famous clock tower of London, has come up at the Lake Town crossing on VIP Road. The 135ft-tall structure, however, falls far short of the original, which towers at 314ft.

The replica, designed by artist Sunil Chandra Pal, is made of concrete and has a fibre casing. Work on the structure had started in December.

Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London. Like the original, the replica will ring every hour, but the sound will not be produced by a bell like that in the London tower. Instead, a recorded sound will play from a speaker.

South Dum Dum Municipality spent over Rs 1 crore to build the clock tower.

Architect Partha Ranjan Das said the replica looked good but the money should have been spent on building something original.

“If they were so interested in making a tower’s replica, they could have chosen from Gour-Pandua (in Malda). There are many towers there,” he said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta,India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / picture by Amit Datta / Monday – October 19th, 2015