With a legacy of memorable projects over decades, RC Ajmer, RID 3053, the 80-year-old, longest servicing club in this pilgrim town, 130km south of Jaipur, is not yet resting on its laurels. “We organised a two-day electronic prosthetic hand fitment camp at our Rotary Bhawan, in partnership with Inali Foundation and RC Poona Downturn in July to mark the completion of our 80 years of social service,” says Shalabh Agarwal, club president.
Led by project chair Rajeev Toshniwal, a lot of planning and a social media campaign preceded the limb fitment camp. “We first got a list from the Social Welfare Department of the hand amputees in Rajasthan. Then our team contacted all the 300 of them, and 80 individuals were selected to be fitted with Inali prosthetic arms,” says Agarwal. However, only 65 turned up at the camp, and 61 electronic hands were fitted on 58 beneficiaries as “three of them were double amputees.” Each Inali hand costs around ₹30,000, and the project was funded by a CSR grant of ₹25 lakh from NHPC.
Agarwal wants to set up a blood bank (₹1 crore) at the Rotary Bhawan with funding from all the three Ajmer clubs and a CSR grant. “We will set up this facility before June 2026.”
Secondly, a mammography van (CSR grant: ₹75 lakh) will be flagged off and it will tour remote villages within a 100km radius of Ajmer city to “screen at least 1,000 women for breast cancer.” An ‘oxygen zone’ will be created on the city suburbs by planting 5,000 trees at a place marked out by the DFO, Ajmer.
In the past, the club has donated furniture (benches, desks etc) worth ₹35 lakh, and built eight toilet blocks (₹15 lakh) at government schools. It has also given medical equipment and diagnostic kits to the Government Janana Hospital, Ajmer; and “executed a global grant (₹27 lakh) during Covid times in which we gave PPE kits, BiPAP machines and small incubators to the hospital,” says DG Nisha Shekhawat, a club member. The GG project was done jointly with RC Bikaner and RC Denver, US, as its global partner.
Recalling the club’s early days, DG Nisha says charter president Bhagchand Soni, fondly known as ‘Nagar Seth’ (the first citizen of Ajmer as he was the richest person), took the initiative to form RC Ajmer, which was chartered on June 18, 1945.
Another illustrious member was J T M Gibson, principal of Mayo College, the 150-year-old boarding school founded by the British. “The rich legacy left by our senior members is incredible,” she smiles. Chipping in, Agarwal adds, “blending social service with fellowship and camaraderie” is the USP of the Ajmer club.