Jamshedpur, May 24: Sameer Pandey of Indian origin has been elected Lord Mayor of Parramatta city of Australia. For the first time a person of Indian origin has reached this position in Australia. Sameer Pandey, a resident of Vijay Temple Tower, Sonari, was till now the Deputy Lord Mayor there. He was elected to the vacant position after former Mayor Donna Davis was elected to the Legislative Assembly. His friends and relatives living in Sonari Vijay Temple Tower celebrated the news of his election as Lord Mayor.
Parramatta is a historic suburb adjacent to Sydney in New South Wales. In this city with a population of more than 2.5 lakh, 11.2 percent of the people are of Indian origin. Parramatta is one of the multicultural areas.
Sameer Pandey was elected late on Monday night. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Parramatta on Tuesday. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese informed PM Modi about the election of Sameer Pandey as the first Indian-origin mayor.
PM Modi congratulated Sameer Pandey on the stage. Sameer Pandey said that it is a matter of pleasure for him to share the stage with the Prime Minister of India as the first mayor of Indian origin in Australia.
Sonari resident Sameer Pandey did his schooling from KMPM High School. He got higher education from Visakhapatnam. In 1998, he went to Australia (Sydney) for higher studies. Sameer Pandey’s father Shatrughan Pandey is a retired Tata Steel employee and is settled in Australia.
In a family of two brothers and two sisters, only one sister is in Bangalore, while all the others are in Parramatta. IT specialist and industrialist Sameer Pandey came to Australia 20 years ago as an engineer.