The PWD's civil engineering and arboriculture wings are the concerned authorities to recover and convert the area into a park. Finding the public land unattended for years, the Eidgah mosque committee tried to grab the land and build a madrasa.

Recently the PWD took initiative to launch a project to make the place a public park in front of the historic Eidgah, a demarcated area for Eid congregation built during the Moghul period in 1640. According to sources the PWD submitted a plan and a design of the Tk 13 lakh proposed public park to the chief engineer's office on February 14. The department of arboriculture, which would do the landscaping of the park is yet to send its report. The chief engineer's office will only process the file for the project after it receives arboriculture report.

"The chief engineer will review two papers sent by the two wings and will compile the information in one paper. Then he will send it to the ministry," said one of the PWD officials.

"The process is going on and within this week we will send it to the chief engineer's office," said chief of arboriculture Emdadul Haq.

On June 11 last year, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works approved the plan to convert the PWD-owned vacant land next to the historical Eidgah into a park.

According to the design of the park, there will be a grill-fenced boundary. The arboriculture wing of the PWD will plant trees in the park visitors along the Satmasjid Road can enjoy a breathing time.

The local ward commissioner and Eidgah mosque committee are contemplating to grab approximately one bigha, situated between the Satmasjid Road and the Eidgah. On January 23 they chopped down several trees at the spot to create space.

The mosque committee claimed that the whole area inside the boundary fences of the Eidgah Maidan including the piece of vacant land situated between Satmasjid Road and the west side boundary fence of the Eidgah is a Waqf property.

PWD officials admitted that they are aware of the tree felling and claimed that the Eidgah belongs to the Department of Archaeology while the mosque is a Waqf estate. But the remainder of the land, an area of 2.5 acres, definitely belongs to PWD. The mosque authorities have only been using parts of their land upon receiving permission from PWD.

The residents of the area welcomed PWD's decision to convert the place into a park but feared that if the process of making a mini park lingered then the powerful mosque committee backed by the local ward commissioner Abul Khaer bablu will definitely grab the land.