Hyderabad: New body takes over Deccan Rotary Club

Hyderabad: The new board of Rotary Club of Hyderabad Deccan (RCHD), one of the oldest Rotary Clubs in the city, has taken charge. At a virtual meet, VVSN Raju was installed as RCHD president and Rajeev Sanghani as secretary by District Governor Rotarian N Hanumantha Reddy. Other office-bearers were also installed on the occasion. The virtual change of guard was attended by well over 170 members.

Sailesh Gumidelli, the outgoing president, passed on the Collar and Gravel to his successor Raju virtually. Sailesh presented an overview of recent projects undertaken by RCHD which include setting up of a dialysis center to provide dialysis for about $4 per session, equipping of a Rotary blood bank to provide free blood to the underserved, and a Cytometer to offer free diagnosis and treatment of children suffering from Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). These have been set up in partnership with The Rotary Foundation and several Rotary clubs particularly the Rotary Club of Naperville.

RCHD through its DARE (Deccan Assists Rotary Endeavors) initiative (first started in 2000-01) partnered with rural and small clubs within Rotary District 3150 to fund, in part, their projects. During this Rotary year (2019-20), 12 projects were executed with 12 different partner clubs, in all 6 focus areas of Rotary service.

The newly installed president Raju presented upcoming initiatives for 2020-2021, which include expanding the existing dialysis centre, setting up two new dialysis centers, one each in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, establishing a modern diagnostic center at a Gurudwara in Secunderabad, providing computer literacy and moral compass education to over 25 government schools.

Raju also said RCHD was partnering with Punjab National Bank, the second largest public sector bank, in their CSR initiatives in distribution of materials to prevent Covid-19 in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.