Forums host farewell function for envoy

Indian ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa cuts a cake at the farewell function. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

More than 300 Indian community members attended a farewell function on Saturday in honour of ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, who is completing her tour of duty in Qatar.Indian Cultural Centre, Indian Community Benevolent Fund and Indian Business & Professional Network organised the event. ICC vice president Girish Kumar, in his felicitation address, lauded the first Indian lady ambassador to Qatar’s efforts in resolving a number of issues concerning the community.IBPN president Azim Abbas said Wadhwa’s stint saw Indo-Qatar relations reaching new heights, the proof of which was the recent successful visit to India by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. ICBF president Kareem Abdulla observed that the direct access policy adopted by the envoy at her office helped to solve many grievances of community members.The ambassador attributed all the achievements to the support she received from the community and commended the exemplary support rendered by ICC, ICBF and IBPN, which shouldered some of the responsibilities of the embassy in catering to the Indians in Qatar. “These apex bodies combined with the other professional organisations have helped in building the image of Indians in Qatar as being trustworthy, dedicated and second to none in the world,” she said.  The envoy observed that the sweat, skills and sometimes blood of Indians had contributed to build Qatar, a fact which all Indian community members need to be proud about.“My eager wish is to see this contribution of Indians being recognised, respected and treated on par with other nationals,” she added.  Earlier, ICC general secretary Seenu Pillai opened the programme. ICBF general secretary Arvind Patil welcomed the gathering and IBPN managing committee member Yasir Nainar proposed the vote of thanks.  Wadhwa will be proceeding to Tokyo by the end of this month to take charge as the Indian ambassador to Japan.