World War II siren, silent for 42 years, blares again

TIRUCHY: The air-raid siren used during the World War II and that was not used for the past 42 years due to some technical problem has been restored and made operational from the Independence Day in Thanjavur.

The air raid siren was established at a tower in the armed reserve police ground in Thanjavur during the World War II between 1939 and 1945 to caution people to put off the lights when enemy fighter jets flew over the region.

This particular siren, in due course of time, was operated by electricity and used to alert the workers of the Municipal Corporation regarding the time schedule and thus it blared at 10 am, 1 pm and 5 pm every day till the 1980s. After that, due to a technical snag, the siren did not work and it fell into disuse.

However, social activists from Thanjavur were demanding the civic body to repair the age-old siren and make it operational.

Several people had approached the Corporation Commissioner and submitted a petition to him to restore the siren.

Responding to the appeals, the civic body initiated steps to repair the siren and revived it. On Monday, during the 75th Independence Day celebrations, Mayor Shan Ramanathan inaugurated the restored siren.

“It was a long pending demand of the people and citizen forums from Thanjavur and was placed back in action. From today, the siren will sound at 6 am, 9 am, noon, 6 pm and 9 pm every day,” the Mayor said.

It was used to alert the workers of Thanjavur Municipal Corporation regarding the time schedule till it deveopled a snag in the 1980s