Dhaka - Bangladesh's Awami League-led government Wednesday cancelled the lease of a residence in Dhaka awarded to former premier Khaleda Zia 27 years ago as widow of slain president Ziaur Rahman, officials said.

A weekly meeting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed's cabinet decided to cancel the lease of one of the two homes awarded to Zia following the assassination of her husband Rahman, an army chief-turned-president of the country.

President Rahman was assassinated in a military coup on May 30, 1981.

"The cabinet has decided to cancel one of the two mansions given to Khaleda Zia in 1981 and 1982 as two government houses cannot be allotted to one person," the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told a news briefing after the meeting.

The mansion, on 2.77 acres (1.12 hectares) of land, was originally the official residence of the army chief, a position held by Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman who came to power in a coup and later emerged as a civilian president through controversial elections.

Khaleda Zia was given a second home as the wife of a slain president in Dhaka's Gulshan area.

She was also given a lump sum amount of money to run her family, education allowances for two children until they reach at the age of 21, a monthly small allowance as pocket money for them, a car with driver and fuel cost for her private, adequate security at home and expenses for medical treatment among others as a widow of the president.

Zia appeared in politics in early 1980s and was elected prime minister of the country for two five-year terms. She has been residing in the cantonment residence for the last 27 years.

Political opponents have long criticised Zia for running political activities from inside the cantonment.

Her arch-rival Hasina requested Zia last week in parliament to vacate the cantonment bungalow to help construct apartments there for the families of the army officers who were killed in the February mutiny at Bangladesh Rifles headquarters. (dpa)