Indian community members bid farewell to outgoing ambassador P Kumaran and his wife Ritu Kumaran, through a virtual event yesterday.
Kumaran will take charge as the as India’s next high commissioner in Singapore.
About 500 community members, including officials of various bodies under the Indian embassy, took part in the virtual event. All of them wished the outgoing envoy and his wife success in their future endeavours.
Several members who spoke on the occasion highlighted the services of Kumaran towards the community as well as his efforts to strengthen relations between Qatar and India. They also spoke highly about his activities in promoting Indian cultural activities as well as holding major cultural shows during the Qatar-India 2019 Year of Culture.
The speakers also referred to his great interactions for the uplift of the neediest members of the community and his efforts to solve the problems of the members at various levels.
His involvement and efforts to assist the community members during the Covid-19 pandemic drew special mention. They pointed out that Kumaran worked day and night to help the needy people and ensure all assistance, especially for the repatriation of distressed community members during the pandemic.
In his reply, Kumaran said it was a fruitful and pleasant experience for him to be in Qatar and urged the community members to stay united and work for the betterment of both Qatar and India. 
Ritu Kumaran also addressed the gathering.
“It is important that we all stay united despite several differences, being such a large community. During this tenure, the trade volume between Qatar and India increased significantly and the Indian population (in Qatar) also surged ahead and reached new heights. We had only three apex bodies for the community and now there are four. There were plans to lay the foundation for a new embassy building but that could not be materialised,”  Kumaran said.
“More than 30,000 Indian nationals have been repatriated during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have also been able to provide assistance to 20,000-30,000 people during the crisis. I was also fortunate to attend a large number of medical camps all these years and see a large number of low-income workers benefit from it,” he added.
Speakers from the community included  Indian Sports Centre president Hassan Chougule and its advisory board chairman Sanaullah A R; Indian Cultural Centre president A P Manikantan and its advisory board chairman K M Varghese; Indian Community Benevolent Forum president P N Baburaj and advisory board chairman Dr Mohan Thomas; and Indian Business and Professional Council president Azim Abbas and advisory committee chairman C V Rappai. 
Prominent community member and CEO of Doha Bank Dr R Seetharaman delivered a video message.




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