At the platinum jubilee event of RC Kumbakonam, five service projects were launched by RI director M Muruganandam who praised all the 75 past presidents for taking this Rotary club to where it is today. “Ours is the second oldest and largest club with 155 members in RID 2981, having set up many permanent projects for the welfare of the people,” said PDG S Balaji, a club member for 15 years.
RC Kumbakonam president V C Baaskaran is seen behind him.
Elated over the completion of new projects that included gifts, property deliveries, upgrade of the Rotary centre and eye surgeries, club president V C Baaskaran said, “Rotary is known for doing highly beneficial initiatives for the people in and around Kumbakonam, a temple town dotted with heritage sites that showcase Tamil culture in Thanjavur district, in southern Tamil Nadu.” Muruganandam and DG J Leone gifted milch cows with calves (₹45 lakh) to 75 rural women “to enable them earn a sustainable livelihood through dairy farming.” This was followed by distribution of sewing machines to 75 young girls, widows and poor women who completed a month-long training at the club’s vocational centre and two private skilling centres.
Before his death in September 2025, Baaskaran’s grandfather S P Rasu Thevar (75), a landlord, had willed his commercial building worth ₹1.25 crore to the club. “At the gala event, we got the property documents of the building (2,500 sqft) which has a supermarket that will fetch the club a monthly rent of ₹20,000.”
Also, the club has purchased thehitherto rented premises of its 10-year-old Rotary Blood Bank for ₹1.5 crore.
Muruganandam launched an eye surgery project done through a GG valued at $60,000 and being done in partnership with the Jothi Eye Care Centre, Puducherry, and Mahatma Eye Hospital, Trichy. “We will do eye surgeries including cataract, and other sight disorders for 3,000 patients identified at the Rotary Orange Vision Centres.” The partner hospitals will also be investing an equal amount in the surgery project.
Rotary edifices
More than 40,000 units of blood have been collected, sorted, processed, and delivered to local hospitals and clinics by the Rotary Blood Bank since its inception. “Around 2,500 donors can give blood at the centre each year. The blood centre is a popular landmark in Kumbakonam,” says PDG Balaji. It was set up with the “efforts of then club president Mohamed Ziaudeen and his team with support from local philanthropists and CSR funds, totalling ₹1.25 crore.”
In 2019, a Rotary Dialysis Centre with five machines (GG: $35,000) was set up at a building of the municipal corporation. “We had entered into an MoU with the City Union Bank and the corporation for joint operation of the centre in which a nominal amount of ₹700–750 is charged for a session. So far, 5,000 kidney patients have benefitted,” explains Balaji. The monthly expense of ₹1.5 lakh is met by the bank, and around 250 patients undergo dialysis at the centre each month, he says.
Rotary Orange Vison Centre is one among 16 such eye centres (GG: $300,000) set up in RID 2981 four years ago. “At the Kumbakonam vision centre, we perform 100 free cataract surgeries and diagnose 1,500 patients a month,” says Balaji.
Recalling some of the iconic projects and initiatives of the club, DG J Leone said at the celebrations that RC Kumbakonam has set a good example for other clubs in RID 2981 to follow, executing diverse programmes including long-term, permanent ones that keep spreading Rotary’s message of goodwill and community service among the people. Thirty past presidents were felicitated by the RI director. In Rotary year 2025–26, the club has done service projects worth ₹5 crore.