A panel styled, 'Pallibandhu Padak 2021 Committee’, has been formed making Jatiya Party presidium member SM Faisal Chisti its convener and former secretary MM Niaz Uddin member secretary to this end, said a party press release on Saturday.

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Jatiya Party leaders Sunil Shuvo Roy, Saifuddin Ahmed Milon, ATU Taj Rahman, Solaiman Alam Seth, Shafiqul Islam Sentu, Rezaul Islam Bhuiyan and Liaquat Hossain Khoka have been made joint conveners of the committee.

The committee members are Mahmudur Rahman, Zahirul Alam Rubel, Hena Khan Panni, Mostafa Al Mahmud, Hussain Maqbool Shahriar Asif, Tareq A Adel, Belal Hossain, Makhan Sarkar, Sultan Mahmud and Nazmul Khan.

Talking to UNB, Chisti said they will give the award in eight categories-- Literature, Sports, Health, Music, Education, Agricultural Journalism, Industry and Rural Infrastructure Development.

He said they will form a jury soon to nominate the recipients of the award. ”We’ll declare the names of award recipients before HM Ershad’s Birthday on March 20.”

The Jatiya Party leader said they will hand over the awards to the recipients through a programme at a city hotel on March 20.

Chisti said their committee had a meeting at Jatiya Party Chairman’s Banani office in the afternoon where two sub-committees—Magazine and Finance—were formed.

Born on February 1, 1930, in the Koochbihar district of West Bengal, Ershad was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1952.

Ershad, who was ousted in 1990 after his nine years of autocratic rule, died on July 14 last year at the age of 89 while undergoing treatment at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka.

Amid political turmoil after the assassination of Ziaur Rahman by an army cabal, Ershad took over the state power from then-President Abdus Sattar on March 24, 1982, as the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) through a bloodless coup.

He formed 'Jatiya Party' in 1986 and was elected President for a term of five years the same year through the third parliamentary election, triggering huge protests by other political parties.

Amid a fierce combined movement by the opposition parties, he was finally forced to step down on 6 December 1990.

He was given 'Pallibandhu' (Friend of Villages) title by his followers for his role in developing rural areas during his rule.