Dr. Andrew Charlton, MP, Meetup with Little India Harris Park Business Association (LIHPBA) & its Members and Supporters

Little India Harris Park Business Association in association with CSmart Consulting organised a business meet up with Dr. Andrew Charlton, MP for Parramatta on Sunday, 06th November 2022. The event was held at Ginger Indian Restaurant at Harris Park and was attended by key business people from greater Sydney.

In attendance as key speakers were Dr. Andrew Charlton, MP; Mr. Sameer Pandey, Deputy Mayor, Parramatta and Mr. Sanjay Deshwal, President, LIHPBA.

Mr. Sanjay Deshwal welcomed all the key business people for their attendance on a Sunday for such an important meet up and spoke about the importance of LIHPBA and the transformation of Little India into a key, notable spot in the map of Australia. He then thanked Dr. Charlton on not only his commitment towards this end but also for promising and beginning the exciting implementation of the transformation of Harris Park into a Little India, along with its own Little India Gate and streetscape.

Mr. Deshwal then presented Dr. Charlton with a beautiful memento from the LIHPBA team to mark his election as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Friends of India Group. Dr. Charlton gratefully accepted the memento and thanked the entire LIHPBA team for their great work and efforts in bringing various events into Harris Park and growing the importance of the area.

Dr. Charlton then spoke about his ‘Little India’ and ‘Big India’ strategy and the importance of trade and building strategic alliances with India. This also goes to Australia now coming ‘on its own’ with less reliance on its traditional international partners. Dr. Charlton then spoke about his vision of beginning the work from within Harris Park and transforming the streetscape, investing $3.5million into Little India Harris Park and building a ‘Little India Gate’ to represent the community.

A short discussion was then opened about community consultation, types of street furniture, lighting and other ideas on how this transformation would actually occur. The discussion was positive with certain businesses even committing to contributing towards this important transformation.

Dr. Deshwal then requested Mr. Sameer Pandey, Deputy Mayor of Parramatta to add his thoughts to the discussion. Mr. Pandey also began by thanking the LIHPBA and the businesses present for all their work in contributing towards the growth and transformation of Little India. He went on to discuss some recent and future planned projects that the Parramatta Council has to transform Harris Park and Parramatta. He spoke about the great corroboration and success of the recent Diwali 2022 Fair as proof of large events being successful in the area and pulling people from everywhere into Harris Park.

The event ended with a scrumptious High Tea catered by Nitin Setia of Ginger Indian Restaurant and business networking amongst the key business people of the Indian diaspora in greater Sydney.