With the cleaning phase in progress to be geared for December 14 it was discovered that there was much work to be done.

The lawns were covered with nutshells, empty packets of chips and nuts and pieces of paper strewn all around.

Clothes -- sarees and lungis -- were spread on the red brick steps and structures by the lawn despite large signboards put up by the authorities that read: 'please keep the lawns clean'. The steps leading to the black marble structure are covered with green moss making the path dangerously slippery.

Sections of the iron fence marking the boundary of the mausoleum have been damaged permitting cattle to graze where the grass is green, while the tall grass has not been trimmed in a long while.

Many cracks found on the cement base are now being repaired by workers. One worker did not hesitate to say that the work is eyewash -- a cover up just for December 14.

"No intellectuals or government official visits this place except on that date, and we are trying to make it look good for the moment," he said.

Although notices read: 'Do not sit on the boundary walls along the waterway' flocking crowds were seen doing so and taking photographs.

"This has become more of an amusement park than a mausoleum. Instead of paying tributes to the martyrs of the country, people come here as a picnic spot," said Akmal Hossain, a senior resident.

Visitors to the park continue to litter the area with nutshells claiming that it was government property and they could do whatever they wished.

There were no officials or security guards on the grounds giving opportunity for peddlers and vendors selling nuts to tiger balm.

Residents complained that because of the lack of security many anti-social activities controlled by local hoodlums take place in the area after dark.

On December 14, 1971, the occupation forces and their local collaborators brutally killed Bangladesh's leading intellectuals just two days to victory day.

These intellectuals were forced out of their homes, blindfolded and then taken to Rayer Bazar and Mirpur and killed.

The bodies that were dumped in Rayer Bazar remained so for more than two decades. The children of the martyred formed an association --Projonmo 71 and demanded a mausoleum and had a plaque placed on December 14, 1991.

The foundation stone of the mausoleum was laid by Khaleda Zia on December 14, 1993, while the public works department (PWD) completed the project and it was finally inaugurated by Sheikh Hasina in December 1993.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs is expected to bear maintenance costs, but PWD officials, who are currently looking after the mausoleum, said that no funds were sanctioned till now. The amount made available from the PWD budget is not sufficient to undertake big repairs, sources said.

"There is no specific time for visitors to the mausoleum and is therefore opened round the year, and because of the lack of funds to pay for security, these anti-social activities continue," said a PWD official. "If the authorities enforce regular patrols, all untoward incidents could be stopped," he added.

The monument and its surroundings came under erosion in the floods in 2003, and the PWD ended up putting boulders along both sides of the waterway to contain erosion.

Prof. Mohammed Rezaul Karim, state minister for Liberation War Affairs was not available for comment regarding the budget for maintenance.