Mehedi Hasan Khan, the inventor of the Avro keyboard, who has been nominated for the Ekushey Padak for his unforgettable contribution to making writing in the Bengali language easier, will receive the award as a team along with three friends.
Cultural Affairs Advisor Mustafa Sarwar Farooqui announced this information on Sunday. Earlier, last Thursday, 15 people, including Mehedi, were nominated for the Ekushey Padak and their names were announced.
In a post on social media, Farooqui said that Mehdi did not want to take this achievement alone.
He did not want to accept the award without his three other friends, Rifat Nabi, Tanbin Islam Siam, and Shabab Mustafa; who also played an important role in the creation of Avra.
He said, "We are happy to announce that the decision has been taken to honor these four talented people who went against the tide with the Ekushey Padak for Avro as a group."
He added, "All four of them are friends coming to Bangladesh from different parts of the world to receive the award."
At the beginning of the Facebook post, Farooqui said, 'Today, we can openly say that we knew that Mehdi Hasan Khan was not interested in accepting the award. He had been approached before as well.
"Despite knowing that he cannot accept the award, our cabinet agreed to announce the award. Through this, we wanted to send a message about who we will celebrate."
He wrote, "When I spoke to him yesterday, he was reluctant. Finally, he agreed to accept the award."
