Sources said Executive Engineer of PWD's division-1 Mohsin Mian unilaterally initiated the work of uprooting the grass on the 5-acre lawn around the parliament building for "level-dressing of the ground and planting new grass."

When this correspondent contacted PWD Chief Engineer ASM Monjurul Islam for his comments, he instructed the executive engineer to stop the work. "I am not aware of the work. I will look into the matter," he said.

Asked if it is necessary to plant new grass spending a lot of money, he said: "In any case, waste of money is not acceptable in the name of unnecessary development work."

Islam said ornamental plantation work is usually executed by the Arboury Culture Department with the consent of Department of Architecture. "I don't understand how it is being done without involving these departments."

There is no such scheme of lawn beautification or development, he said.

The chief architect of the Department of Architecture and the chief arboury culture officer were also unaware of the beautification work.

In Thursday evening, this correspondent found around 100 labourers engaged in uprooting the grass of the Sangsad Bhaban lawn.

Chief Arboury Culture Officer Quamruzzaman said, "I am not aware of such work though it is the duty of my department to develop any decorative and ornamental beds and designs or make tree plantation."

Abdus Salam, chief architect of Department of Architecture, also said, "I am not aware of the ongoing ground development and plantation works."

According to an official of the Arboury Culture Department, PWD division-1 has not involved the Arboury Culture Department with this project "to misappropriate money in the name of development work".

"The division-1 has recently got a special monetary allocation from the 'repaid fund' of public works ministry for some projects," the official said, "Usually such allocation is granted to meet emergency needs."

Executive Engineer Mohsin Mian of PWD division-1 said that the ground development work has been undertaken to level-dress the ground and plant new grass "to make the ground even and rid the existing grass of weeds."

After planting of new grass, the Arboury Culture Department will do gardening, develop flowerbeds and make ornamental designs, Mian said. "We have got Tk 24 crore for the work to be completed in one month," he added.

A high official at the Department of Architecture said, "It is not understandable why suddenly level dressing of the Sangsad Bhaban ground became urgent, as the ground has been like this for many years now with none making any complaints."

"I don't think that level dressing and planting new grass are necessary at all on the pretext that the ground is uneven," he said.

Mohsin Mian however said he has stopped the work with the instant instruction of the PWD chief engineer, "The chief engineer has said the authorities would see and determine whether the work is necessary at all or not."

World famous architect Louis I. Kahn began the construction of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in 1961 on an area of 200 acres of land. The magnificent building was inaugurated on January 28, 1982.