History of Rotary Club of Burdwan South
" A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step " - Lao Tzu
The single step was on January 12 , 1998 when we had our first organisational meeting . A series of brain storming sessions mentored by some stalwarts from Rotary Club Of Burdwan , laid down the foundation stone of our new venture. Under the guidance of Sponsor Club President Rtn Gautam Tah and Governor’s Special Representative Rtn Jitendranath Mondal - the baby was born on June 24, 1998 with the name Rotary Club of Burdwan South. Other Rotarians Late Saila Kumar Mitra, Gupteswar Bhakat, Kalyan Samanta, Amit Hazra Choudhury, Amal Nag and Late Gopal Gupta extended their whole hearted support in the process.
The Charter was signed on June 24, 1998 and it was handed over to Charter President Rtn Dr. Subrata Roy by Immediate Past District Governor Rtn Dr. Kirti Ranjan Dey in presence of District Governor 3240 Rtn Ranajit Ghosh.
From the very beginning, we have been the believer of the saying - "Journey is more beautiful than destination -all happiness lies in the journey". We fully enjoyed the voyage. Rotary Club Of Burdwan South is now an young adult of 25 years passing through the changes and challenges of childhood and adolescence. Unfortunately while enjoying the journey, we were not very systematic to keep a record of it in black and white . So here we would try to recall our history from the " Memory Bank" of few very involved members.
We did innumerable projects in the earlier days . To mention a few are Free eye Surgery Camp at Sri Aurobinda Stadium(led by Rtn Dr. Sumit Banerjee), Free Health Check Up Camps in nearby villages (led by Dr. Subrata Kundu and Dr. Saibal Chatterjee), Polio Camps at Kalpataru Ground on National Immunization Days, Tree Plantation, Free Hydrocele Surgery( led by Dr. Partha Nath sen & Dr. Subhranka Chakrabarty), Career Guidance Seminar, sending relief and medicines during natural calamities( led by Neeraj Khandelwlal, Rtn Amit Chatterjee, Rtn Pran Konar, Rtn Tushar Dutta Choudhury) other medical camps etc. All these could become smooth by the active participation of all the Rotarians and guidance from senior members Dr. Bhudeb Ghosh and Kuldip Singh.
We feel ecstatic to reminisce being the trailblazer in Burdwan to receive Matching Grant Projects. During the period 2001 - 2005, we had a dream run. We started Braille Transcription Centre at Burdwan Blind Academy. We donated Mortuary Van to Burdwan Municipality and Bus to Burdwan Blind Academy. Next was the construction of Sanitary Latrines in 45 Girl Schools . which was in fact the biggest Matching Grant Project in Burdwan in terms of money spent. Also we did Sweet Water Project that is digging tube wells in and around Burdwan at that time. Though many of the members took active role but special mention is needed for Project Co-ordinators Rtn Rakesh Surana and Rtn Sujoy Kumar Mitra.
Year 2005 is a very memorable year for us. We got our home - the sweet home. Rotary Sadan - the Community Service Centre of RCBS was constructed. The icing on the cake was inauguration of this reality by his excellency Sri Gopal Krishna Gandhi - the then Honourable Governor of West Bengal on February 23, 2005. Rtn Rakesh Surana, Rtn Shovan Kumar, Rtn Ganga dhar Khandelwal, Rtn Chandan Ray, Rtn Sandip Sarkar, Rtn Bijay Shaw and other rotarians took active role during the construction of the building. It’s noteworthy that 23rd February 2005 was the centenary birthday of Rotary International. On this auspicious day, Sri Gandhi also initiated ’Fingertips’, first newspaper in Braille script (edited by Rtn Sujoy Mitra) in the august presence of Dr. Subrata Gupta IAS - then District Magistrate of Burdwan.
Poet Shelly wrote ’if winter comes, can spring be far behind’. For RCBS when winter arrives, we start planning for observation of International Day For Differently Abled People on 3rd December every year . We invite the students, parents, teachers of all Special Needs Schools in and around Bardhaman on this day, arrange for cultural performance, drawing events etc by these students. Finally we have sumptuous lunch together at the sprawling Krishna Sayar Park of the city. Last few years over 700 people gathered in the programme . We feel humble as well as proud for our this Signature Project. Rtn Dr. Subrata Kundu, Rtn Chandan Ray and Joylal Barman have always extended their helping hand in observing this day.
RCBS is also the pioneer not only in Bardhaman but also in RID 3240 to receive District Foundation Grant . We arranged for Artificial Limb Camp (twice) led by Rtn Subhendu Dwivedi , distributed gumboots with gloves to garbage lifters of Burdwan municipality which was conceived by Rtn Subhranka Chakrovorty and Rtn Debabrata Hati , installed Invertible Garbage Bins in all the Wards of Burdwan municipality utilizing this grant . Also we started a Sewing School in our own community centre ground floor with the sewing machines received through District Grant. This school ran very successfully till COVID 19 pandemic. Before pandemic we also ran successfully Yoga Training , Drawing school and Music School in our ’Rotary Sadan’. We are expecting to restart the Sewing School shortly.
Fund raising programmes to continue philanthropic activities has been our continuous endeavour. For that we did several fund raising programmes. Notable dancer and actress Srimati Mamata Shankar performed at SanskritiLokomancha, Burdwan on the 100th birth anniversary of his father Guru Sri Uday Shankar. We also had music evening with famous singer SriNachiketaChakrabarty, Sri Suman Chattopadhyay and Sri Anjan Dutta and drama directed by Sri Bratya Basu.
New menbers and new clubs are like life blood for a worldwide movement like Rotary International. We have already sponsored two Rotary Clubs. The first one, Rotary Club of Guskara was chartered in the year 2002-03. The GSR for the club was Rtn. Dr. Sumit Banerjee. Then in the year 2005-06, Rotary Club of Bardhaman Heritage was formed which was sponsored jointly with Rotary Club of Burdwan. Our member Rtn. Dr. Subhranka Chakrabarty was the GSR of the club.
We have a very unique practice in RCBS. Every year the Installation Ceremony is celebrated on June 24. In last 24 years several dignitaries enlightened our Installation programmes e.g. Author Late Buddhadeb Guha, Film Director Tarun Majumdar, State Minister Late Dr Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, Ex -Bureaucrat Sri Jahar Sarkar IAS, Prof N L Mitra - Chancellor of KIIT University, Mount Everest Summiteer Sri Debraj Dutta, Rotary News Editor Smt Rashida Bhagat etc.
Rotary Eye Centre, the First Global Grant Project of Rotary Club of Burdwan South (No. GG 2348399) was inaugurated on 23rd February 2024. Cooperating organisation of the project is Burdwan Municipality. It is situated at the Primary Health Centre of Burdwan Municipality at Kanchannagar, Burdwan. Initially total project cost was $40485. OPD started on 1st July 2024 and Eye operation started on 28November 2024 . The hospital is still in its formation stage and a lot of people in and around Burdwan are expected to be benefited by the project.
We feel happy to share that Rtn Dr. Subhranka Chakrabarty, who was the first AG from our club has been volunteering as a Rotary Foundation Cadre for last several years. It would be worth to mention that a Rotary Foundation Cadre volunteers to use his /her professional skill and technical expertise in Rotary Foundation Grant Projects. He is the first first International Foundation Cadre from our District. Recently he has also been appointed as the Foundation Coordinator of Rotary International.
Someone said - ’Past life memories don’t come from mind - they come from soul - they lead to familiar people and places - we don’t think them …we feel them.’ we could perceive this realisation during scribbling this.
We need to put a stop here. We feel -’ Past is Lesson , Present is Gift, Future is Motivatio’. So let’s be motivated to do more good to humanity under the umbrella of Rotary International.