The mechanical workings were replaced by an electric mechanism over 100 years ago when the chimes of the 151-year-old Surat clock tower could be heard throughout the city. Endowed for the people of Surat by Khan Bahadur Burjorjee Fraser in 1871, the structure continues to be one of the city’s major colonial landmarks. Fraser had stipulated that "if this clock tower needs to be shifted due to widening of the road, it should be similarly constructed” elsewhere. It would be the responsibility of the Surat municipality to bear the cost of maintaining the monument. The municipality used to employ a person for winding the clock but after 1920 it has been powered by electricity.
Clockwise from above l: plaque and Surat’s clock tower;
Khan Bahadur Burjorji Fraser; plaque at Gandhi Baug;
cover of Dr Ratan Marshal’s book Photos: Darwin Variava
The 80 ft clock tower in Zampa Bazar in what was then the center of Surat city was erected in memory of Burjorjee’s father Merwanjee, "for the convenience of the inhabitants of Surat,” notes researcher Marzban Giara, referring to Parsioe Suratma Vahaveli Danganga written by the late Dr Ratan Marshal and published by the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) in the 1980s. Built at a cost of Rs 14,000, there had been a well on the spot earlier, notes Giara.
Fraser also gifted, in 1869, a promenade in the Victoria Garden, now renamed Gandhi Baug. A plaque in the Garden notes that the promenade was constructed by Fraser "for the use of the inhabitants of Surat by their fellow citizens” at a cost of Rs 8,000. Giara notes that the promenade has "successfully endured several huge floods in the Tapi river in the past.”
Burjorjee was awarded a gold medal for his "loyal conduct (to the British) during the years 1857 and 1858,” when the Sepoy Mutiny or First War of Independence took place. "The medal was presented to him in October 1865 by the collector of Surat” C. H. Cameron, writes Giara. A fortnight later, "Burjorjee hosted a banquet at his bungalow for all English ladies and gentlemen.”
A member of the board of the SPP from 1863 to 1881, Burjorjee died at the age of 65 on August 23, 1881. His father Merwanjee was a trustee from the time the trust was first set up in 1841 till 1857. He died on April 23, 1857 aged 71, Giara notes. F. J.