On Saturday morning, some hoodlums allegedly sent by the vested quarter forcibly stopped renovation of building by archeological department staff and threatened them to leave. They squandered construction materials worth several lakh taka kept at the site for renovation of the building. Allegations have it that some PWD (Public Works Department) men also accompanied them.

On the day before (Friday), some people along with some PWD officials went to the site in the afternoon and threatened them to stop work and leave the place, some archeological departmental employees working there and witnesses said.

The vested quarter is trying to float tender for demolition of the building showing it unusable, sources alleged. Some ruling party men are behind the move, it is alleged.

Members of the elite, socio-cultural bodies and intellectuals in the city expressed deep concern over the matter and called upon the authorities concerned to foil the attempt by the vested quarter to destroy a valuable heritage in the city.

The building stands on a 0.708 acres of land (Mouza No 49, Khatian No-111 and Dag No- 752).

According to archeology department officials here, the department declared the building as a "preserved archeological wealth" under Section 10 of the Antiquities Act 14 of 1968 through a circular of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs on January 2, 2003.

It was also notified through a gazette notification (no 14 of 2004) on April 1, this year.

The offices the Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Barisal and other divisional, district and departmental officials were also informed of the ministry's decision through letter on May 11 (Memo No Protno:/ Bari:/9/4/2002/976). Issuance of the letter was followed by a meeting of high officials, held on May 12, 2004.

After that letter and the meeting, another letter (Memo No Gha-1/2/83-98-akash/112(6) was sent by the regional office of the archeology department to the officials concerned on June 11, this year.

Meanwhile, the vested quarter, in collaboration with some unscrupulous officials and employees of the local PWD and the administration started a conspiracy to float tender to demolish the building and grab the land, the sources claimed. Even the name of Barisal City Corporation was used in the purpose, they claimed.

The building is in the prime city area where offices of the Deputy Commissioner, Police Superintendent, Judge Court and City Corporation are located.

Altaf Hossain, head mason of archaeological department staffs working at the site alleged that some PWD officials and hooligans forced them to stop the work leave the place.

"I worked in at least 50 archaeologically important sites in Bogra, Rangpur, Rajshahi and other parts of the country. Compare to those, condition of the Barisal old collectorate building is better and if it is renovated, it can be used for more than fifty years", he told this correspondent.

Aminul Huq, an engineer from the Khulna regional office of the archeological department said, "PWD, the administration or any other department or person has no right to interfere in the work of the archeological department".

"Our work is to preserve history and heritage of the country for the sake of the nation and from the hands grabbers and looters", he added.

When contacted, PWD high officials said some of their staff went to the site on Friday afternoon to see the condition of the building as it is.

"The site is owned by PWD and we were not informed in any way about the work archeological department is doing" one official said.

Barisal Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Abul Kalam said he did not order to stop the renovation work. "PWD said the building is risky and so I suggested for doing work on the ground floor first", he told this correspondent yesterday.