Santosh Shetty elected KWAR president, Muzaffar Ali vice-president

Riyadh: A good number of Indian expatriates in Saudi Arabia took part in the 9th annual general body meeting of Karavali Welfare Association Riyadh (KWAR) held on last Friday afternoon (Oct 21) at Al Fakhra Istra in Riyadh.

The meeting started around 1:30 pm after a delicious lunch served to all the invitees/members. P.M.Bhaskar, the key man of KWAR with a bundle of talents welcomed the guests and welcomed the president Shri Rajesh Kumar, Vice-president Shri Santhosh Shetty, General secretary Shri Nelson Dsouza and Treasurer Shri Shashidhar Haridas to the dais. Mr P M Bhaskar surprised the key executive members of outgoing committee shared their experience and each member shared their love for KWAR which was well appreciated by the huge gathering.

Outgoing KWAR President Rajesh Kumar in his keynote address stressed the need for unity of KWAR and thanked all the office bearers, executive members, members and well-wishers who supported him during his reign as 7th & 8th president of KWAR. Further, he urged the committee members to utilize their spare time for service of the Association.

An illustrated presentation was followed by KWAR’s General Secretary Nelson Dsouza who briefed the audience about the KWAR programs, achievements and charity works during the period 2015-2016 which was well understood by the gathered crowd.

Mr. Shashidhar Haridas who had a great stint as treasurer of KWAR gave a brief on financial statements, which reflected all the positive financial aspects of KWAR as a successful organization. The specialty of Shashdhar Haridas’s presentation was that he addressed the crowd in one of the purest forms of our native Kannada which was well appreciated by the gathered.

Mr. Pervez Ali a keen, dedicated member and well-wisher of KWAR delivered a memorable speech in which he expressed his unconditional love for KWAR Organization and its motto and remembered the contributions made by the past presidents and urged the Members to bring in young and new members to the KWAR's fold. He stressed that KWAR is the only unique Organization in KSA, which gels people all religions under one Umbrella. Further, in his speech showered praises on outgoing President Mr. Rajesh Kumar’s dedication towards success of KWAR and wished the new President Mr. Santhosh Shetty a great success on his future endeavors.

The core issue of the day began with the outgoing president dissolving all the committees and sub-committees. A specially appointed election committee represented by Shri Jayaram Shetty(KANOO), Shri Jagannath Shetty and Shri Jagadish Alva (Carrier Saudi) were given the task of conducting the election procedure and to elect the new president, vice president and all the other important portfolios of KWAR executive committee.

The election commissioners gave each member a chance to represent himself and the overwhelming enthusiasm shown by members justified the elected member’s love for KWAR as well as upholding the unity of KWAR. Apparently, the election commissioners had the pleasure of announcing the unanimous election of President Shri Santhosh Shetty, Vice-president Shri Muzaffar Ali, Gen.Secretary Shri Shashidhar Haridas, Joint Secretary Shri Victor Manezes, Treasurer Shri Nelson D’souza and joint treasurer Shri Nazeer Ahmed, Shri Ramesh Shetty & Shri Rajesh Kumar were nominated as Advisors as well as other office bearers of KWAR team 2016-2017.

The unique background music played by host P.M Bhaskar while announcing the names of each and every elected member were very entertaining piece of the Grand evening. Program host Shri P.M.Bhaskar thanked all the 3 election commissioners and presented them with flower bouquets as a mark of respect from KWAR.

The Newly elected President Shri Santosh Shetty was felicitated by outgoing President Shri Rajesh Kumar. Shri Santhosh shetty, who is a well-known Organizer and Social worker promised to keep the Unity of KWAR at any cost with his dedication and Love for the Organization. In his speech the newly elected President has remembered & praised all the members who had contributed so far, especially the extraordinary efforts and contribution of Rajesh Kumar one of the founder member and main pillar in bringing this organization to the present high. The outgoing President Rajesh Kumar was felicitated by all the members and the Grand evening came to an end with the recitation of Jana Gana Mana, our revered national Anthem.

Office Bearers for the year 2016-17:
President - Santhosh Shetty
Vice President - Muzaffer Ali
Gen. Secretary - Shashidhar Haridas
Joint Secretary - Victor Menezes
Treasurer - Nelson D’Souza
Joint Treasurer - Nazeer Ahmed
Internal Auditor - Mahesh Hegde
Cultural Secretaries – P.M. Bhasker, Jayakar Poojary, Ajit Kumar & Prasanna Rao

Sports Secretaries – Iqbal Shirva, Anoop Shetty & Salman Noor
PRO – Yathiraj Malpe & Parvez Ali
Coordinators – Suresh Raj Suvarna, Subhash Shetty & Ashwath Rai
Media Coordinator – Nithin Rai
Advisors – Ramesh Shetty & Rajesh Kumar

Executive Members: Mohammed Yunus, Hamid Nazir, Jagadish Belchada, Shrikant Amin, Prakash Amin, Irfan Aboobakar, Tejraj Shetty, Umesh Shetty, Bhasker Salian, Usman Gulwadi, Jagannath Kotian, Hussain Shafi.

Santhosh Shetty (President), Muzaffer Ali (Vice President), Shashidar (General Secretary)