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Published : 24 Mar 2022, 01:18 PM
Hasina conferred the prize, the highest civilian award in Bangladesh, on this year's recipients and their representatives at Shapla Hall in the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday.
Nine individuals and two organisations received the award in 2022 in recognition of their notable and meritorious contributions at the national level.
Freedom fighters Ilias Ahmed Chowdhury, Colonel Khondkar Nazmul Huda, Md Sohiuddin Biswas and Sirajul Haque were honoured posthumously for their contributions to the Liberation War and Bangladesh’s independence.
“I felt like a captive due to the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic. Today, I really wanted to come in person to present the Independence Award, as I couldn’t do it last time. I can’t deprive myself every time. I believe it’s an honour for me to hand over the awards to the recipients,” said Hasina.
Dr Kanak Kanti Barua and Dr Md Kamrul Islam were recognised for their contributions to medicine. Another posthumous awardee Syed Mainul Hossain won the prize in the architecture category.
The Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute also received the award for their research work, while the Power Division was recognised for successfully providing electricity to all in Mujib Year.
On Mar 15, the Cabinet Division published a list of 10 people and an organisation for the award, which included the late Amir Hamza’s name in the literature category.
Later, the government removed Amir Hamza from the list amid reports about his controversial past. The new list did not have a nominee for the literature category but the Power Division was added on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has been honouring individuals and institutions with the award every year ahead of Independence Day on Mar 26 since 1977.
The awardees receive a gold medal, a replica of the award and a certificate. The award money was raised from Tk 300,000 to Tk 500,000 in 2020.
