Toronto: Consulate General of India celebrates Republic Day

Consul General Dinesh Bhatia and his wife Seema Bhatia hoisted the Indian Tri-colour to mark the celebration.

Around 300 members and friends of Indian and Indo-Canadian community participated in the event.

Bhatia said that the day reminded him of 1984 when he participated in the National Republic Day parade in New Delhi as a member of the National Cadet Corps.

Bhatia added that the Consulate was trying to facilitate travel of Indo-Canadians by providing long-term visas of five and ten years.

Bhatia added that the Consulate and his team could be reached through various means including direct email, Twitter and Facebook. The Consulate’s handle is @IndiainToronto and Bhatia’s personal handle is @dineshbhatia.

Bhatia said the Consulate has begun using new mail addresses with mea.gov.in domain.

He said that the Conuslate would continue to hold its grand events in 2017 too.

The first such program will be held on Jan 28 with Panorama India at the Pearson Convention Centre when India’s Republic Day would be celebrated once again with a much larger gathering.

Panorama India will also be organizing the Independence Day parade on Sunday, Aug 20 at downtown Toronto.

Bhatia hoped that this year’s parade will cross the landmark established last year of over 20,000 Indians and Indo-Canadians participating in the parade.

Bhatia said that this year they will also be celebrating International Day of Yoga and he has requested all Yoga organizations and Indo-Canadian community associations to come forward and participate in a joint program under the umbrella of IYDC, the International Yoga Day Canada.

He said that they had recently celebrated the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas at the Consulate in presence of a large number of NRIs and OCIs.

Bhatis said that they will once again hold Consular camps and Pensioners’ Life Certificate camps in November for senior citizens.

Bhatia added that the demonetization initiative of the Government of India has been largely successful in integrating the unaccounted wealth into the mainstream and dealt a severe blow to black marketers, extremists, drug traders, human traffickers, etc.

The Indian government has extended the date for submission of banned Indian currency notes of 500 and 1000 by NRIs till 30 June 2017, he said.

The Government also requests all PIOs to convert their PIO cards into OCI, without payment of any fees and the last extension for this scheme has been granted till 30 June 2017.

Bhatia said that he seeks the support of Indians, Indo-Canadians and friends of India in Consular Jurisdiction of his Consulate, namely, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador in achieving the challenges that lay ahead not only in improving the consular services but also bettering India-Canada ties.

Bhatia added that any person wishing to speak with him on any issue is welcome to see him every Friday between 10 am and 12 pm without prior appointment.

Bhatia also thanked the young children, teachers and Principal of a local School, Brampton for joining them on Thursday.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Images: Indian Consulate General of Toronto