Tirupur’s Tryst with AKS He became a Rotarian 20 years back, but his conviction in Rotary’s goals to uplift the lives of the downtrodden and bring peace and harmony in the world, has only increased as also his contributions to TRF.

Rtn Nandhagopal is the first Arch Klumph Society member in District 3202, and 35th in India. His faith in Rotary has made him contribute a whopping Rs 1.5 crore (USD 250,000) to TRF. He was felicitated by PRIP Kalyan Banerjee at a meeting organised in his honour by the District Governor K Sridharan Nambiar at Tirupur. Receiving the cheque from the AKS member, ­Banerjee expressed his appreciation for the generous contribution and encouraged other Rotarians to donate to TRF. RRFC Raja Seenivasan, ARFC Babu Joseph and Major Gifts Chair Ravi Vadlamani also attended the event and lauded the District’s first AKS member.

Born in an affluent business family that had varied business interests, philanthropy was innate for Rtn ­Nandhagopal. He is the Managing Director of The Chennai Silks, one of the ­biggest textile chains in Tamil Nadu and Teemage Precast In, manufacturers of precast and pre-stressed concrete products; Building Committee Chair of Valam Trust, (which was instrumental in the completion of two fly-overs in Tirupur) and NIFT-TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute, Tirupur.

Several welfare activities are being carried out for the good of the community through their family Trust, ­Natchammal Kulanthaivelu Charitable Trust. “We provide quality healthcare and medicines free of cost to all the patients at the Natchammal ­Kulanthaivelu Charity Hospital run by our family Trust. Next year we plan to expand our hospital by adding 200 beds,” said Nandhagopal. He donates around Rs 3 crore annually through his various Trusts.

Nandhagopal, who joined Rotary in 1995, believes that the money he contributes to the Foundation will come back for the welfare of his people, and in that order, he feels that his earlier contribution of Rs 1.5 lakh to TRF had come back as Matching Grant from the Foundation for his club’s maxillofacial and plastic surgery camp organised in association with Interplast-Germany. He has been a major sponsor for projects of his home club — RC Tirupur South. When the Club planned to build the Rotary Tirupur South Crematorium, ­Nandhagopal donated a sum of Rs 25 lakh to start the construction work. His family Trust funds the cremation of unidentified bodies, orphans and the deprived in this crematorium.

When asked about his views on Rotary’s literacy mission, he said, “Bringing total literacy in our country is a great thought; and I promise to give more for literacy projects.”