UK’s leading Gurdwaras joined in to support London-Amritsar direct flights campaign

Bedford Gurdwara honors Sameep Singh Gumtala of Amritsar Vikas Manch for selfless service

Amritsar, (Bedford UK) May 20 (Punjab Post Bureau) – Leading Gurdwaras in UK has offered their full support to London-Amritsar direct flights campaign. A meeting was organized at Bedford, UK Gurdwara Sahib by SEVA Trust UK Chairman Charan K Singh Sekhon and Amritsar Vikas Manch Overseas Secretary, Sameep Singh Gumtala also attended by Bedford UK Member Parliament Mohammad Yaseen, Gurdwara Committee President Dashan Singh Sohal, Stage Secretary Niranjan Singh Bassi and others. Guru Nanak Gurdwara is the biggest in east of England region that has a population of about 20,000 from Punjab origin. 

Sameep Singh Gumtala, of the Amritsar Vikas Manch was honored with a Siropao by Guru Nanak Gurdwara Bedford, UK for his contribution in providing direct connectivity between Amritsar-UK and his efforts to connect the holy city of Amritsar with the rest of the World. Gumtala, a resident of USA is spearheading the Fly Amritsar public campaign for direct international flights connectivity to the holy city of Amritsar. As part of these efforts, a new Parliamentary campaign was also launched recently by AVM and SEVA Trusk UK at a meeting hosted by MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi in the UK Parliament.

Speaking on the occasion, Gumtala said, I am overwhelmed with the support given by Sangat in UK He also thanked Charan Kanwal Singh Sekhon, Charirman SEVA Trust UK to join the direct flights initiative and work with the local Sangat for direct flights. It will also provide one-stop connectivity from the World’s biggest aviation hub to the rest of the World including Europe, Canada and USA.

Mohammad Yasin, MP Bedford offered his full support to the campaign for direct flights between London-Amritsar. He said that the joint efforts of SEVA Trust UK Chairman Charan Kanwal Singh Sekhon and AVM Sameep Singh Gumtala have helped in bringing the key stakeholders together.

Whilst attending a meeting at the Gurdwara involving senior community leaders and MP of Bedford, SEVA Trust Chairman Sekhon said that Gumtala and other AVM members have not only been lobbying within Punjab and India but have been traveling overseas to enlist the support of various leaders including Members of Parliament, NGOs, airlines and the public at large. These efforts have borne fruit with the start of flights between Birmingham-Amritsarfor which the NGO AVM even filed a PIL in Punjab & Haryana High Court. It was also due to his efforts that one of the World’s biggest low-cost carrier Air Asia X recently announced the start of Amritsar-Kuala Lumpur flights from 16 August, 2018. Gumtala had approached the airline in October 2017 with detailed data and statistics to convince its management for the start of this route. We would like to thank Gumtala for his huge Seva and sincere efforts, said Sekhon.

One of Europe’s largest Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Southhall also offered their full support to this campaign and their President Gurmail Singh Malhi also attended the launch meeting along with UK’s leading community and charity. Singh Sabha VP Harjit Singh Sarpanch, Secretary Kulwant Singh Bhinder, Head Granthi Bhai Balwinder Singh Bhatti, Gurpartap Singh Dhillon, and Gurmeet Singh from Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle also offered their full support to this campaign.