In one of the narrow lanes near the famous Chhota Imambara in the old city of nawabs stands a crumbling structure called Sat-Khanda, a seven-storeyed tower made of red Lakhauri bricks and soft lime. legend has it that Badshah Mohammad Ali Shah, the third ruler of Avadh, planned to build an observatory resembling the minarets of Babylon. When five storeys were completed, Shah climbed the tower - only to stumble and fall ... The ruler ... abandoned construction. The Sat-Khanda, 150 years later, is home to 14 homeless families.

.. Recently, portions of the tower collapsed. That was not the only building of Shah's Era to give way. The eastern portion of the first gate of the Chhota Imambara, one of the most adorned mosques in Hussainabad, also collapsed ... The Imambara ... (is) in a pathetic condition ...

But restoration looks unlikely considering that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Hussainabad Trust which administer these heritage sites in Lucknow are caught in bureaucratic tangles. The trust was set up a century ago - with descendants of royal families as trustees – by Lucknow's nawabs for the upkeep of the Imambaras of Asaf-ud-Daula, Shah Najaf and Hussainabad. Today, the trust itself is in need of urgent restructuring as no organisational elections have been held since 1993, though the district magistrate is the ex-officio chairman.

The ASI says that the trust does not ... rid of encroachers ... Encroachers and those ... allotted space inside the protected complexes were carrying out activities which endanger the structures. Besides, these monuments are built of soft materials like red Lakhauri bricks and brown lime which are weak when compared to stonework and usually do not last beyond 150 years.

As the bureaucratic cracks between the trust and ASI get wider, more heritage buildings in and around Lucknow are showing signs of imminent collapse. On February 2 this year a burj (canopy) of the Shah Najaf Imambara near Hazratganj - built on the pattern of the Najaf in Iraq where the fourth caliph is believed to be buried - crashed. A few months earlier the minaret of the world-famous Juma Masjid developed huge gaps. The fallen burj is now lying in the open.

Prince Alimuddin, the daroga (caretaker) of the Bara Imambara, says over 50 monuments considered as living landmarks of the nawab era might vanish for want of proper maintenance. Rumi Darwaza, the gateway to old Lucknow, now trembles when heavy vehicles pass through. Built in 1784 along with the Bara Imambara by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, the 60 ft. high gate was considered a fine example of the synthesis of Hindu and Muslim architecture. Prominent in the structure is the conch, decorated with designs looking like serpent hoods or lotuses, two cultural insignia of ancient Avadh whose founder, according to lore, was Ram's brother  Lakshman, from whom the name Lucknow is derived.

The ASI, however, says work is in progress at the Bara Imambara, Shah Najaf, Amaj Ali Khan's mausoleum and Sikandarbagh since April. " ... Lucknow has been divided into three sectors and restoration work will be taken up one by one", says ASI

The Government too has been callous. When Mayawati was chief minister, she set up the Parivartan Chowk close to a monument near Begum Hazrat Mahal Park despite ASI's statutory ban ... Everyone is making the appropriate noises. But amid this din, old Lucknow is losing some of its magnificent monuments.