15 violations detected in Central Market
Fifteen violations were recorded during an inspection campaign carried out at the Central Market by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in co-operation with the food and markets monitoring section of Doha Municipality, local Arabic daily Arrayah has reported. The campaign covered a number of shops in the market and the violations pertained to violation of the commercial licensing law. The violations included conducting business without a licence among others.
‘Indian fisherman died in crash’
An Indian fisherman from Bahrain was killed when his boat reportedly “collided” with a patrolling vessel of the Qatar coast guard in the country’s waters.
While confirming the death of the fisherman, who was identified as Karthik Thangaraj (31), an Indian embassy official in Doha said the mission verified the incident from reliable sources and found that the fisherman had died in an accident and not as reported by a section of the media in India.
Speaking to this newspaper, a senior Indian diplomat said local government sources also confirmed the death of an Indian fisherman in an accident involving his fishing boat and a patrolling vessel of the Qatar coast guard on September 21.
He said three other Indian fishermen, who were colleagues of the deceased, were held by the coast guard for straying into the country’s waters after violating the international water boundaries. They were produced yesterday in a court after being detained at a jail in Umm Salal. The three were identified as Malaikannan Selvan,
Raj Rockappa and Iyyappan Andavar.
In a report quoting the South Asian Fishermen’s Fraternity (SAFF), which appeared in one of the Indian newspapers, it was alleged that the fisherman was gunned down by the country’s coast guard. An Indian embassy official in Doha has since disowned the media report.
Karthik was reportedly a native of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
The SAFF has sought the early repatriation of Karthik’s body in mails to the local government, Indian embassy and Indian minister of foreign affairs.
QTA promotes Qatar in Paris
Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) will promote the country as a unique and leading Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions destination (MICE) at the International French Travel Market (IFTM) Top Resa in Paris which started yesterday.
The four-day event is known as the main business-to-business travel trade show in France.
QTA is expected to outline major developments in tourism infrastructure and highlight Qatar’s “Tourism Sector Strategy.”
Leading Qatar’s delegation, QTA will represent and promote the country to the French and other European markets by focusing on hospitality partnerships from the leisure sector. It wants to increase tourism arrivals to key travel industry stakeholders.
Already known as a progressive business hub, Qatar is well positioned to take advantage of the MICE market in the Middle East.The QTA stand at the IFTM Top Resa will offer a flavour of Qatari traditions through the presence of a live falcon and a henna painting artist in the cultural village corner.
“Qatar is already well known in Europe as a business and MICE destination and the awareness level of Qatar as a tourist destination in France is very high,” said Rashed al-Qurese, acting chief marketing and promotion officer at QTA.
