Allahabad Rotary celebrates milestone year

A Special Postal Cover, along with a cancelled stamp bearing the Rotary Wheel, was released by the West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to commemorate the platinum jubilee year of Rotary Club of Allahabad, D 3120. Over the decades, the club had implemented several projects reaching out to the weaker sections of society.

Following a call given by renowned physician Dr Baijnath Vyas, the then President of RC ­Lucknow, Allahabad University Vice Chancellor Dr A N Jha convened a meeting that led to the formation of the club in April 1943. ­Charter President Justice Mohammad Ismail was assisted by Vice President G M Harper and Secretary ­Captain ­Bhagwat Dayal in the formative years of the club.

One of the notable projects, Rotary Viklang Kendra, was set up nearly two decades ago by a team led by Dr J B Banerjee to provide a range of services for the physically-challenged. Besides prosthetic fitment, the Kendra offers a whole range of rehabilitation services including physiotherapy for the beneficiaries who come from all over Uttar Pradesh. “In a day, it serves over 150 people,” says Sanjeev Goel, former secretary of the club. However, four years back, after the demise of Banerjee, his family had formed a society to look after the Kendra.

Last year six eye camps were held in which over 120 rural patients were treated for cataract. Recently, two freezer-boxes costing ₹ 3 lakh were donated to preserve, free of cost, the mortal remains of the dead until cremation.

Rotary Traffic Park

A symbol of the club’s pride, the Rotary Traffic Park in Allahabad will get a major facelift with the Allahabad Development Authority (ADA) infusing ₹ 25 crore-worth projects as part of upgrading the city’s amenities for the upcoming Kumbh Mela. “A nullah (drainage) plot was developed into a beautiful park in 1972 by our club, at a cost of ₹ 67,000, to teach children traffic rules,” says Goel.

Right now, ADA has taken possession of the four-acre park for building a new boundary wall, laying roads, installing solar lights, a modern signalling system and introducing a number of small motor cars for teaching safe driving for youngsters. Once the project is completed, the park will be handed back to the club. So far, the traffic park has trained thousands of schoolchildren on traffic rules, adds Goel.