Dr. Avnish Jolly, Chandigarh, July 14, 2008:Rtn. Dr. S.K. Duggal, was formally installed as the Club President of the Rotary Club of Chandigarh for the year 2008-09 here today at the installation function.
The outgoing President Arvind Mehan presented the President’s collar to Dr. Duggal at the installation function held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.The installation of the Inner Wheel Club of Chandigarh was also held simultaneously as Dr. Indra Duggal presented the collar of presidentship to Mrs. Kanchan Bhasin.
Mr. Kalyan Banerjee, former Rotary International Director and past Trustee of The Rotary Foundation was the chief guest on the occasion. He congratulated the Club for undertaking projects that squarely meet the needs of the community.
The outgoing President Arvind Mehan presented the report of the club activities and informed that 45 free heart surgeries were conducted in collaboration with its partner hospitals, PGI and the Fortis Hospital Mohali, under the Heartline Project, besides seven pacemakers were installed on needy patients at PGI under the Pacemaker Bank Project. The Club which celebrated its 50th anniversary in May this year, launched Gift of Knowledge project for education to poor students, Gift of Vision project for special retinal eye surgeries worth Rs. 18 lacks, and Hamari Beti project to save the girl child in partnership with Fortis Hospital during the year, and contributed USD 39,522 to The Rotary Foundation, which would be utilised for various humanitarian projects.
Rtn. Dr. S.K. Duggal in his address informed that the Club shall continue to strengthen its Rotary Heartline project, and would work primarily in the field of health, nutrition, and literacy for the underprivileged children, which is the thrust area of the Rotary International also this year. Special Projects are being planned to combat illiteracy amongst the economically poor sections of the city, besides problems of drug abuse and depression amongst youth through effective counselling methodology in educational institutes.
Past Rotary International President Rajendra K. Saboo also spoke on the occasion and said that this year’s Rotary theme ‘Make Dreams Real’ focusses attention on 30,000 children under the age of five who die every day of preventable causes. He said UNICEF estimated that two-thirds of the world’s 9.7 million children who died in 2006 could have been saved (UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2008 Report)