Media Release
Jeddah, Jul 8: The 11th annual general body meeting of the Karnataka non-resident Indian (KNRI) Forum was held at The Village Restaurant here on the recently.
Dr Firoz Mullah officially announced the start of AGBM and introduced himself to the audience as host of the event and briefed about the KNRI forum, introduced the guests and entertained the audience with his fluent Kannada language.
The programme started with the welcome speech by Mohammed Kaleem Cultural secretary of the forum. He officially welcomed all the executive committee members, life and regular members, sponsors and guests to the meeting and explained basic objectives of the forum.
General secretary Yashwanth Amin highlighted the annual report of the forum through 3D animated power point presentation which was featured with aims, objectives, mission, vision and the achievements for the year 2017-2018. He presented detailed information in each category, like education, medical, and Swachh Bharat (toilets projects) back home. He was excited to inform about the opening of new bank account and getting the Forum’s PAN card from the government of India. He also said that KNRI has initiated and registered the KNRIs to get the NRK cards with the help of NRI Forum Karnataka who have issued the NRK cards soft copies. During the presentation, video clips of last year’s events were shown, especially the memorable Kannada Rajyotsava day 2018 celebrated last year in the month of November and it was applauded by the whole members in the hall.
Aijaz Ahmed, treasurer presented the financial report through power point presentation and highlighted the receipts and payments, income and expenditures details for the year 2017-18 as of March 2018. He also informed about the renewal of the forum’s certificate as per the State Government of Karnataka Society Act.
Outgoing president Mohammed Saifuddin Sami in his speech, thanked all the executive members for tremendous support. He briefed the activities of the KNRI Forum and explained about the great achievements in his tenure. He requested members to introduce more Kannadigas to the forum and strengthen it. He thanked life members, sponsors and regular members for their generous support for the forum and also thanked the KNRI team in India including Vasu Manchegowda, Syed Shakeel and Harsha for their continuous support extended in forum’s official works back home. He extended his special thanks with standing ovation to the outgoing general secretary Yashwanth Amin for his dedicated services to the forum all the time.
Former president Krish Jangal was felicitated during the event for his services towards the forum and was presented with memento as a token of appreciation, Krish Jangal said in his farewell speech as he is transferred to Riyadh and leaving Jeddah shortly, it was a pleasant journey being connected with KNRI Forum since its inception. He wished new committee to take the forum in higher level under the new president ship.
Dignitaries and sponsors were presented with flower bouquets as a token of appreciation.
Jalal Baig officially delivered the vote of thanks, he thanked outgoing president, distinguished guests, valued sponsors, life members, and he expressed deep sense of appreciation towards the outgoing executive committee for their hard work, he also thanked the presentation team headed by Mohamed Arifulla Shariff for his professional and deck perfect presentation.
New office bearers’ election for the year 2018-2019
As a second part of the event Shaikh Saoud and Dr Ashfaque Maniyar conducted the election to elect the new executive committee, explained the bye laws and election procedure. They inducted four new members to the executive committee and two as standby members from different parts of Karnataka namely Movin Rego, Mohammed Faizal, Shadab Desai, Asif Roshan, Lukhman Ali Khan and Shaikh Javed.
Mohammed Saifuddin Sami elected unanimously for the second term as president. The new team under the leadership of Mohammed Saifuddin Sami include vice presidents Dadapeer Hayath and Mohammed Arifullah Shariff, general secretary Peter Mascarenhas, Jalal Baig as joint secretary, Aijaz Ahmed as treasurer, Nazeer Ahmed as joint treasurer, Altaf Almelker as meeting coordinator, Asif Momin as sports secretary, Asif Roshan as joint sport secretary, Mohammed Kaleem as cultural secretary, Rajesh Suvarna as joint cultural secretary, Mahboob Ali Khan as press secretary, Dr Firoz Mulla, Faizee Razak and Mohammed Faisal as membership drive coordinators, and Suresh Babu, IT coordinator.
Executive committee members elected were Yashwanth Amin, Mohammed Mansour, Syed Kowsain Pasha, Syed Nasir Khursheed, Mohammed Saleem Khalifa, Mohammed Ilyas Momin, Ashfaque Maniyar, Shaikh Saoud, Mukarram Khan, Mohammed Saheb, Habeeb Rahaman, Manzour Ahmed, Movin Rego, Shadab Desai, Mohammed Faizal amd Asif Roshan.
Mohammed Saifuddin Sami expressed his happiness and gratitude in his speech after elected as president, he thanked all the members for showing confidence in him once again and he will continue to put all his efforts with the dedicated support from the new team to take the KNRI Forum, Jeddah to further higher levels.
The newly elected general secretary Peter Mascarenhas while speaking thanked all the executive committee for giving chance to work as general secretary, he said he will do his best to support the team as the general secretary.
Syed Nasir Khursheed the outgoing vice president congratulated the president and the new team.
Dadapeer Hayat and Mohammed Arifulla Shariff thanked all members for electing them as vice presidents, while speaking Dadapeer said, “Our team has enough talent and they are passionate towards social works.”
Newly inducted executive members expressed their happiness to be part of KNRI family. They said, “For the past 1-2 years, we were watching the community activities of the forum which inspired us to join the forum to extend our support for the benefit of the community through KNRI. We feel overwhelmed due to warm welcome from the senior members of the forum.”
As a part of entertainment segment Mohammed Kaleem, Altaf Almelkar and Mohammed Saifuddin Sami sung all-time favorite Kannada patriotic songs, melodious Kannada and Hindi songs. The programme concluded with delicious dinner served by The Village Restaurant followed by a photo session.
Mukkaram Khan delivered the vote of thanks in which he expressed deep sense of appreciation towards all the members for attending this event and making it successful and thanked everyone separately. He also thanked those who helped the forum directly or indirectly.