The annual Phagwah parade, the Hindu celebration of the beginning of spring, was postponed and it is uncertain whether or not the parade will take place this year.
The parade’s postponement is due to an internal battle within the parade’s organizing committee, called the Hindu Parades and Festivals Committee.
There were two separate permits filed with the NYPD to host Sunday’s parade. The dispute between both parties, and the uncertainty of which application is the correct one, led police to reject both, and forced the matter into court.
According to documents filed at Queens Supreme Court, former executive officers of the parade committee allegedly engaged in misconduct that lead to them getting kicked off the board.
The ex-members, including former president Benimadho Misir and former vice president Romeo Hitlall, are accused of trying to fix parade committee elections so they could keep their positions.
“The Directors found that Petitioner was using the office as President to engage in political favoritism, cronyism and nepotism by openly and blatantly engaging in election rigging activities among friends and family members in flagrant breach of his fiduciary duties to the corporation. For instance he was promising ‘Guaranteed Board Positions’ upon the condition that the person guaranteed such positions vote in a certain manner and agreed to certain nominations as stipulated by him,” the suit says.
Roy Singh, a current member of the parade committee, who claims to be one of the applicants on the other permit submitted to the NYPD, said the integrity of this year’s parade was ruined by the former members of the committee who tried to fix elections so they could remain in their positions. Singh said he is one of the primary organizers of the parade, making multiple trips to New Jersey, where the floats of the parade are made.
“It has become an institution because of the way we run it,” Singh said.
Hitlall, a member of Community Board 10, said he could not comment as it was a legal matter and referred a reporter to a phone number that he said belonged to their lawyer for the case. Calls made to that number have not been returned.
Vishnu Mahadeo, president of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Corp., called the fighting between the two sides “sad” and he hopes the event will be rescheduled soon.
“It’s a real failure of the leadership of the Hindu community to put personal interest ahead of the community’s interest,” he said.
Looking at the situation from a business perspective, Mahadeo said the stores on Liberty Avenue feel the parade’s absence the most.
http://queenstribune.com/phagw...tponed-amid-dispute/
The parade’s postponement is due to an internal battle within the parade’s organizing committee, called the Hindu Parades and Festivals Committee.
There were two separate permits filed with the NYPD to host Sunday’s parade. The dispute between both parties, and the uncertainty of which application is the correct one, led police to reject both, and forced the matter into court.
According to documents filed at Queens Supreme Court, former executive officers of the parade committee allegedly engaged in misconduct that lead to them getting kicked off the board.
The ex-members, including former president Benimadho Misir and former vice president Romeo Hitlall, are accused of trying to fix parade committee elections so they could keep their positions.
“The Directors found that Petitioner was using the office as President to engage in political favoritism, cronyism and nepotism by openly and blatantly engaging in election rigging activities among friends and family members in flagrant breach of his fiduciary duties to the corporation. For instance he was promising ‘Guaranteed Board Positions’ upon the condition that the person guaranteed such positions vote in a certain manner and agreed to certain nominations as stipulated by him,” the suit says.
Roy Singh, a current member of the parade committee, who claims to be one of the applicants on the other permit submitted to the NYPD, said the integrity of this year’s parade was ruined by the former members of the committee who tried to fix elections so they could remain in their positions. Singh said he is one of the primary organizers of the parade, making multiple trips to New Jersey, where the floats of the parade are made.
“It has become an institution because of the way we run it,” Singh said.
Hitlall, a member of Community Board 10, said he could not comment as it was a legal matter and referred a reporter to a phone number that he said belonged to their lawyer for the case. Calls made to that number have not been returned.
Vishnu Mahadeo, president of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Corp., called the fighting between the two sides “sad” and he hopes the event will be rescheduled soon.
“It’s a real failure of the leadership of the Hindu community to put personal interest ahead of the community’s interest,” he said.
Looking at the situation from a business perspective, Mahadeo said the stores on Liberty Avenue feel the parade’s absence the most.
http://queenstribune.com/phagw...tponed-amid-dispute/
