Federation Of Indian Community Of Southern California ( FICSC) Celebrates India Independence Day

Los Angeles, Sep. 01, 2016
Press Release by NRIpress.club/LA
By Dilip Butani/RAMESH

Federation Of Indian Community Of Southern California celebrated India Independence Day at The Amaya Restaurant, Buena Park, California.

The event was graced by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Senator Tony Mendoza, Mayor Pro Tem Ali S Taj, Mayor Pro Tem Naresh Solanki, Councilmember Tony Lima and Presidential appointee K V Kumar. On the occasion retired Military Officers were honored. The program started with Lamp Lighting and national anthems of USA and India. 

Chairman Dilip Butani welcomed everyone and introduced Congresswoman Sanchez.  In her speech, Sanchez praised the organization and presented certificates to the Committee members.  She also presented plaques to Major Gurjeet Singh, Captain Geetinder Singh, Major Arvinder Singh Bhullar, Col V K Chhabra, Dr Pooja Shah, Indian Navy and Aparna Hande, Nursing Captain Indian Army. 

Next, President Amrit Bhandari introduced Senator Mendoza, who in his speech spoke about Indo-American relations and presented a Resolution and certificates to the team. This was followed by introduction of K V Kumar by Ajay Khetani. Kumar complimented the team for the wonderful program.  Next Raj Walia introduced Mayor Pro Tem Ali and councilmember Tony Lima. Both presented the team with city of Artesia resolution.

Mohan Sharma, introduced Mayor Pro Tem Solanki and also emceed a wonderful cultural program. Solanki spoke about India’s freedom struggle. The cultural program included songs by popular singers Nauzad, Ram Tasildar, Dhiren Buch & Siddharth Pathak and dance items. The meeting ended with a sumptuous dinner.

At the recent election, for the 2015-16 executive committee of Federation of Indian Community of Southern California, Dilip Butani was elected as the Chairman while Amrit Bhandari was elected as the President. 

The other elected office bearers were: Mohan Sharma - Executive Vice-President, Raj Walia – Secretary and Ajay Khetani – Treasurer. The vice -presidents elected were Ramesh Bhatt, Smita Das, Dinesh Gala, Siddharth Pathak and Nauzad Sadry while Latesh Bhambhani and Pranav Desai were elected as the Joint Secretary and Joint Treasurer respectively. The Advisory Board will comprise of Inder Singh (Chairman), Ashok Madan, Kewal Kanda, Gurjeet Singh, Bhavna Chawla, Dr Jay Shah, Aparna Hande, Dr Shekhar Rahate, Navin Gupta, Dr Kailash Dhamija, Prakash Pancholi, Ram Tasildar and Jashbhai Patel. K.V.Kumar will be the Honorary Patron and Sunil Tolani will be the Patron.

Both Dilip Butani and Amrit Bhandari are co-Chairs of Indian-American Republicans of Southern California. Dilip Butani is also President of GOOPIO International-OC Chapter, while Amrit Bhandari is the vice-President. Butani has also been Chairman of  The Sindhu Center and Bhandari, Director of The Jain Center.