District administration has sought help of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee for restoration work of Satkhanda and Hussainabad Clock Tower. Prof NM Bhandari, of IIT Roorkee's structural engineering division would come to Lucknow on February 13 to examine the two monuments and suggest ways to restore it, while saving its original form.

District administration and Hussainabad and Allied Trust (HAT) jointly undertook restoration work of the two monuments on separate occasions about two years ago. While the work was underway, local teams found that certain areas need specialised handling. "Prof Bhandari is said to be the best brain as far as structural engineering is concerned," said OP Pathak, additional district magistrate, Lucknow and secretary HAT.

Conservation architect, Aasheesh Srivastava explained that construction of historic monuments was a different ball game altogether. "Anyone needs to get in the shoes of architects of those times and then think. Then they need to face challenges and implications of weather and pollution too. Thus, an expert is needed," he said.

The two monuments were constructed by the Nawabs of Avadh. While Satkhanda is an unfinished observatory that was being constructed to facilitate moon sighting in Eid, Clock tower was initiated to welcome the first Governor General of United Provinces of Avadh.