Tag Archives: Indians involved in Community Service

Yakub Patel first Indian-origin Muslim to become Mayor of UK’s Preston

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Bharuch, GUJARAT / Preston, U.K :

London: 

The city of Preston in the UK has elected Gujarat-born Yakub Patel as its first Indian-origin Muslim Mayor for 2023-24 following the completion of Councillor Neil Darby’s term in office.

In his new role, Patel will chair council meetings, and act as ceremonial head representing the city at engagements throughout their year in office.

“I am honoured and delighted to become the Mayor of Preston, a city I am proud to call my home. I hope to make positive differences to the communities that I serve and also provide additional support through my Mayoral charities for the coming year,” Patel said.

Prior to his new role, Patel has been serving as the city’s Deputy Mayor since May 2022.

The long serving councillor has been undertaking civic duties and hosted the visit of the Royal Family in summer alongside the then Mayor.

“…It gives me great pleasure to be handing over the chains of office to the Mayor-elect, Councillor Yakub Patel. The last year has been the most outstanding experience of my life and it has been a huge honour to have been the Mayor of our fabulous city,” Preston’s outgoing Mayor Darby wrote in a tweet.

Birth and Migration to UK

Born in Bharuch, Gujarat, Patel graduated from M S University of Baroda with a degree in BA and MA in English Literature. He came to the UK in June 1976 and started his career in 1979 with Preston Corporation.

Patel also held roles as a Revenue Inspector, Traffic Inspector, Assistant Chief, Chief Inspector and Operations Manager before he retired on July 4, 2009.

Political Career

He has been involved in politics since the age of 10 when he started canvassing and delivering leaflets for his late father, who was a strong supporter and a member of the Congress party.

He was first elected as a Labour Party councillor for Avenham Ward in 1995 and was the first Muslim councillor in the history of Preston City Council.

In addition, Patel was also elected as a Lancashire County Councillor for Preston West Division during 2001-2009.

The new Mayor is also an active member of the local community and serves as a co-opted member for Preston Jamea Mosque and Preston Muslim Burial Society.

He is a school governor for Frenchwood Community Primary School. Rosemere Cancer, Preston Domestic Violence Services and Emmaus will be Patel’s Mayoral Charities for 2023-24.

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> United Kingdom / by IANS / May 23rd, 2023

Have a complaint? Head to the nearest ATM kiosk or hotel

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M. Sharif is supporting the police by providing 5,000 complaint boxes. Each police station will get 50 boxes which will be placed at ATM centres, hotels, schools and colleges. / Photo: K. Murali Kumar / The Hindu
M. Sharif is supporting the police by providing 5,000 complaint boxes. Each police station will get 50 boxes which will be placed at ATM centres, hotels, schools and colleges. / Photo: K. Murali Kumar / The Hindu

The city will soon have 5,000 complaint boxes in public places to act as the eyes and ears of the police and help them maintain law and order. People can tip off the police and give information through the boxes to be installed at hotels and ATM kiosks.

Dedicated Servants of India, a city-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), led by 92-year-old retired army school teacher M. Sharif, is supporting the police by providing 5,000 such boxes.

According to Mr. Sharif, with 100 police stations in Banglaore struggling to maintain law and order, the complaint boxes would help in building local intelligence network effectively, he says.

He said many residents were apprehensive about approaching the police even to pass on information. Such information could remain suppressed. Now, they can remain anonymous and at the same time tip off the police, he said. The complaint boxes would act as deterrent and instil a sense of fear among anti-social elements, he said.

The information could be related to anything. For example, it could be a complaint against a government official or a civic representative. The police officer can pass it on to the department concerned. “Repeated complaints against an official would draw the attention of higher ups,” he said adding this would also improve accountability among officials. The letters in the complaint box would be picked up by the beat police and delivered to the station house officer for action.

Each police station would get 50 boxes which would be placed at ATM centres, hotels, schools and colleges.

The NGO with the help of philanthropists has so far collected 2,000 boxes.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Kamal Pant termed it a good idea of police-public partnership. “We have already started this scheme as a pilot project in some parts of the city and it is doing well. We are planning to cover the entire city soon,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by Imran Gowhar / Bangalore – November 13th, 2013