NEW YORK (TIP): The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) organized a virtual interactive zoom meeting on Thursday, April 29, 2021 with the Indian Consulate Office in New York, NY. Topics focused on clarifying changes/issues relating to OCI, emergency visa issuance and other related travel guidelines.
NFIA, formed in New York in 1980, is the largest Indian American National umbrella organization looking after the interest of our community and also promoting US-India Relations.
This effort was initiated and organized by NFIA’s Regional Vice President (RVP), Mrs. Gunjan Rastogi, who single-handedly spearheaded and successfully executed in a relatively short time frame. This was necessitated due to the fervent requests made by the Indo-American community as well as the community-at-large to hold another session with the Indian consulate office in an effort to gain a better understanding of the OCI changes/issues. The consulate office included Honorable DCG, Shatrughna Sinha and Honorable Consul (CPV) Murugesan Ramaswamy and the zoom live event was attended by approximately 280 participants from all over the United States.
The meeting kicked off with a welcome address by Gunjan Rastogi, followed by a moment of silence observed in honor of the COVID-19 victims in India. Next, NFIA president, Ajoy Dube made introductory remarks. The consulate office spent the first hour dedicated to the aforementioned topics which were clearly explained in an informative manner and this then transitioned into a Q&A session moderated by Mukesh Modi and Nilima Madan, both residents of the New York area. Several NFIA members attended were recognized at the event, including NFIA past presidents Subash Razdan, Sudip Gorakhshakar, Dr. Thomas Abraham and Angela Anand as well as NFIA Board members Raj Razdan, Dr. Hari Har Singh, Dr. Satish Mishra, Sunny Gabhawala, Aparna Hande, Prashanthi Harathi, Kamini Khare and Ashok Patnaik. Further, Mrs. Rastogi also recognized the presidents of the 13 supporting organizations who participated in the event: NIAASC, RANA, UPANY, Kerala Center, World Vegan Vision, India Home, Indian American Action Group, Metropolitan Asian Family Services, Navika Group of companies, Senior Community Center of Vaishnav Temple, Indo-American Senior Citizen NY, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and IALI.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks and the RVP expressed her appreciation to both theconsulate officers and to everyone in attendance. The Deputy Consul General encouraged the viewers to keep sending any unanswered questions to the Indian consulate office. Everyone in attendance felt that the interactive session provided the details and cleared a lot of lingering doubts relating to the OCI and the issuance of the emergency visas.
(Based on a press release by Gunjan Rastogi)