Calcutta, Oct. 2 :    Calcutta, Oct. 2:  Wailing sirens were a way of life in the 60s or 70s, when the country fought three wars. They were used as a powerful motif of factory life in the average Bengali film. Many Calcuttans would even set their watches to the wail at 9 am. But, for the past 20 years, the high-pitched sound of the antique alarms is almost mute, except for an infrequent 9-am reminder. Most of the 103 of them, perched atop buildings, are defunct, bearing silent testimony to the city's past. This Puja, however, the sound of the sirens may just be back, as efforts are under way to get them repaired. As the air turns thick with speculation about yet another war, the civil defence department has decided to overhaul the sirens. The department has been promised Central funds, which it had sought two years ago, during the Kargil war, but did not get. The sirens were installed during World War II and the Chinese aggression in 1962 to warn Calcuttans of a possible air raid. Till the Bangladesh war in 1971, the sirens operated perfectly. But thereafter, their purpose ceased, thus making most of them defunct. Exposed to rains and other incidental hazards, the sirens have developed snags. Most of them have also lost the protective iron cover. During the Kargil war in 1999, the civil defence had taken an initiative to overhaul all the city sirens. Many of them were repaired at the time. 'We had demanded Rs 1.5 crore from the Centre to repair the defective sirens, but the funds did not arrive,' said an official. Most of the sirens are fitted on the roofs of important buildings, like Akashvani Bhavan, Indian Museum and Mahajati Sadan. But it is not known how many of these are in working condition. Minister of state for civil defence Sreekumar Mukherjee said 90 of the total 103 sirens were fitted with a special electrical connection so that they could be operated from a central location. 'We could operate all the 103 sirens from a central point in the civil defence headquarters near Lalbazar. But lack of maintenance has rusted the system. We are planning to revive the system soon,' the minister assured.