Medical facilities launched at RID 2981 DisCon
Rotary District 2981, led by DG S Balaji, celebrated its district conference in Chennai for three days recently. To commemorate the event the district launched three humanitarian services — a mammography bus worth ₹1.75 crore that will be driven across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to help early detection of breast cancer; Project Orange worth ₹2.25 crore to set up 16 vision centres across Tamil Nadu; and three ambulances to serve patients. The ambulances were given to three Rotary clubs chosen through a lucky draw at the conference and the clubs will use the vehicles to help underprivileged patients. The projects were funded through global grants and sizeable contribution from Rotarians.
DG Balaji walked the talk by contributing more than ₹1 crore towards these projects and he became the district’s first AKS member, said RID 3232 PDG V Raja Seenivasan who was the RIPR for the conference. Appreciating the conference for taking up a good mix of Rotary topics and other meaningful sessions, he said that the event can be easily rated as one of the best conferences. This year the district, with a membership strength of 6,500 Rotarians, added 1,500 new members and contributed about $300,000 to The Rotary Foundation. “This is no mean achievement as there are no big cities in this district,” said the RIPR.
The district includes 135 Rotary clubs across seven revenue districts — Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Puducherry and Karaikal.
Speaker of the state Legislative Assembly M Appavu, the chief guest, appreciated the district’s Rotary clubs for their community service activities, especially the adoption of 135 backward villages. He said that the project was similar to the state government’s programme to transform villages and equip them with proper infrastructure. Justice R Subramanian, Judge, Madurai Bench, Madras High Court, was the guest of honour. He commended Rotary’s women’s empowerment initiatives and urged the Rotarians to educate schoolchildren on personal hygiene and adolescent health.
M A Mohamed Ziaudeen was the conference chairman. A variety of cultural programmes and distinguished speakers drawn from various fields kept the audience engaged and entertained throughout the conference.
