Indian American Delegation Meets NY Mayor Eric Adams, City Officials
The Indian American group led by GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham with Mayor Eric Adams. (photo provided)
India-West Staff Reporter
NEW YORK, NY – Indian American community organizations, on an invite from New York City Hall, gathered to discuss issues facing the community and perspectives on how its members can be involved in the city.
The Indian community delegation was headed by GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham.
City Hall was represented by Mayor Adam’s chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin and deputy mayor Meera Joshi.
After the meeting with city officials, the delegation met Mayor Eric Adams and interacted with him. Mayor Adams gave high marks for the community’s contribution to make New York an exciting city to live.
The meeting with city officials began with GOPIO’s condemnation of the defacing of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Union Square Park in Feb and requesting Mayor Eric Adams to increase police presence in the park area as well as to apprehend and punish culprit.
Discriminatio, civil rights violations and violence against religious institutions in the city were also discussed. Chief Advisor Lewis Martin suggested the setting up of a committee from the community to work closely with NYPD on some of these issues. Girish Patel was nominated to coordinate this effort along with Braj Aggarwal, Lal Motwani, and Beena Kothari. The committee will reach out to the community on these issues.
Business and commercial issues were also addressed. The delegation told city officials that many Indian companies are setting business outfit in the US and that Indian Americans in New York city could serve as conduit to reach out to businesses in India. It was suggested that whenever trade and business delegations come to New York, City’s International Affairs Department could reach out to them. Accordingly, a Business Promotion Committee headed by Dr. Abraham was nominated along with Prof. Rajasekhar Vangapaty, Sudhir Vaishnav, Mukund Mehta, Ketan Shah and Karthikeya Parashar.
The delegation also touched on matters related to education urging there be status quo on gifted and talented classes for elementary classes.
The Indian American group of officials suggested the city continue with Diwali celebrations and also hold a special celebration from the city for the 75th Anniversary of India’s independence.
GOPIO was also represented by Manhattan Executive VP Prof. Rajasekhar Vangapaty, VP Dr. Vimal Goyle and Treasurer Braj Aggarwal as well as GOPIO-New York Chapter Chair Lal Motwani and President Beena Kothari.
Other community representatives were Association of Indians in America President Gobind Munjal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Executive Director Sudhir Vaishnav, Bhakti Center Program Coordinator Kartikeya Parashar, Society of Indian American Engineers and Architects President Ketan Shah, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir National Coordinator for Public Affairs Girish Patel and Mukund Mehta, President of India Home and Indo-American Senior Citizen Center of New York.
