HISTORY of the club...
Sometime in December 1976, Rtn Prakash kumar Mukherjee, a resident of Salt lake and a chartered account by profession and a few of his friends mooted the idea of forming a Rotary club in Salt lake and it took shape gradually in April, 1977. The Rotary club of east Calcutta and provisional status was granted in May 1977 by then DG Rtn. Ramesh Chowdhury. The momentous occasio
n came on 30th June 1977, when charter was granted and our club became the 22nd club of RI district 329 and became fully member of RI family with the issue of charter no. 420. The first president of the club was late Rtn. Dr. Hari Sankar Ghosh, father of Rtn. Rita Bose and father-in-law of PP Dr. Subir kumar Bose, both are illustrious members of our club. The first secretary was late Rtn. Prakash kumar Mukherjee, the architect responsible for forming our club. The charter was presented on 12th August 1977 at Oberoi Grand and on this day the first issue of Panch sheel, the weekly club bulletin was issued. The charter presentation ceremony was attended by 25 illustrious charter members, whose names are enclosed in this booklet. The first year 1977-78 under the president late Rtn. Ghosh was an eventful year with the Rotary theme ‘server to unite mankind’ and club sponsored sewing machine, triple antigen, polio vaccine camps, etc. The club sponsored Rotaract club and interact club in the every year of its existence. The interact club was dissolved in 1982. However, the major milestone was opening of Homeopathy clinic on 14th April, 1978 at AB/AC park of salt lake. The homeopathy clinic had crossed its silver jubilee and is running successfully. The activities of the clinic is overseen & managed by the club and patients from all walks of life take help from the club. The club organized District Assembly on 30th June, 1978, which was a great success. The club got first prize for membership development & growth. The club received a special prize for community service & club bulletin panch sheel. The year 1978-79 under presidentship of Rtn. Ghosh organized donation of clothes & garments to needy people, organized vocational camps, donated a pedal sewing machine to Mohila Samity and donated books worth Rs.1,000/- and sponsored a second bus stop shelter. The club took initiative to apply for land for our club building to the Govt. of West Bengal and the concerned authorities had allotted a 3 kattah land in sector-1 of salt lake. The year 1979-80 was the year when main architect and founder member of the club late Rtn. Prakash kumar Mukherjee became President. The club donated sewing machine and organized blood donation camp. A decorative & informative brochure was published with the help of Dr. Nitish Ranjan Roy, curator of Victoria club and this was presented to RI President Rtn. James Bomen and Ann. Edith during their visit to Calcutta on 2nd & 3rd October, 1979. The club organized a major fund raising programme and received appreciation from Rotary world. The club received 2nd prize for youth services at the district conference. Charter member Rtn. Rasamay Banerjee became the President of the club in 1980-81 period. Mass immunization programme was carried out during the year at Mahisbathan. Eye operation programme was organized where 23 patients were operated. On 25th February, 1981 a joint meeting was organized under the presidentship of Rtn. Rasamay Banerjee with RC clubs of Dum Dum, North Calcutta and Cosipore at Airport hotel to receive GSE team from USA and dinner was organized where each member of GSE team was given local handicraft and silk goods. During the year, 3 member became PHF. The year 1982-83 under the Presidentship of Rtn. Abinash Ranjan Das was very eventful year for many reasons. The club organized a major fund raising programme at Mahajati Sadan. An eye camp was organized at salt lake general hospital, where 23 patients were operated. The club organized major renovation & repairing works at Jadunath Madhav Chandra high school at Kristopur village and introduced annual merit awards for school students of class V to IX. During the year, Innerwheel club of Salt lake city Calcutta was formed. During the year our member Rtn. Chandan Maitra along with Ann. Mridula to became the joint member of the club to attend RI convention at Dallas in June, 1982. During the year Rotary club of Salt lake city Calcutta Trust was formed on 23rd April, 1982 with the founder Trustees – President of the club Rtn. Das, PP Rtn. Rasamay Banerjee, Rtn. N.B. Banerjee, Rtn. R.C. Jaiswal, late PP Rtn. Prakash Mukherjee, Rtn. Chandan Maitra and late PP Binayendu Banerjee. The year 1983-84 saw late Rtn. J.L. Ganguly as President of the club and Secretary was Rtn. Chandan Maitra. The club organized seminar on Planning, engineering & architecture and to highlight the needs of the residents of salt lake was organized. The club observed one week vocational service & organized vocational training camp. The year 1984-85, Rtn. Tapas Roy became the president and the club membership strength had grown to 35. A midday training session for tailoring for girls and women at Mahisbathan had been started. Club sponsored an electrician to start self employed business. Organized sit & draw competition, dental checkup camp and gave financial help to Krishnapur Chanchal kumari Balika Vidyalaya and Mahisnath Primary school for giving prizes & books to meritorious students. The club president got for the first time in our club RI president’s citation for successful rotary year. Rtn. Dr. Haradhan Basak became the president of the club in the year 1984-85. This was the year when a plot of 5 kattahs of land was allotted to the club by the Govt. of West Bengal and the club took possession of the land on payment of Rs. 61,000/- and the plot was registered in the name of RC Salt lake city Calcutta Trust. Like other years, the club organized sports meet, fund raising programme, sponsored 3 candidates for RYLA, dental checkup camp at central salt lake school, ENT checkup to Govt. AD school. A tubewell & renovation of school rooms at Mahisbathan primary school was organized by the club. The membership strength was raised to 46. The year 1985-86 was the year of the president Rtn. Chandan Maitra and the year will be remembered for major all round activities, recognition from the District and the year actually started club’s dominance in the District. The club organized & hosted District conference for the first time by our club and was termed as one of the successful memorable conference. The club organized blood donation camp, Laparoscopic operation camp and MCH camp where 656 laparoscopic sterilization operations were performed. The rotaract club was revitalized. An eye donation camp was organized where 239 persons pledged their eyes after death. The club sponsored 2 new clubs this year Rotary club of Salt lake downtown and Rotary club of Salt lake midtown and President Rtn. Chandan Maitra and Rtn. Rasamay Banerjee became Governor special representative for these 2 new clubs. The membership strength went upto 64. Chandan Maitra attended RI convention at Kansas city. The club got many awards & recognitions eg. 1st prize District challenge trophy for vocational service prize for MCH care programme, award/citations for membership growth, two citations and plaques from RI-HQ for sponsoring two new clubs RC Salk lake Midtown & RC Salt lake downtown. Rotary year 1986-87 started with the Presidentship of late Rtn. Benayendu Banerjee. The year 1987-88, late Rtn. Pran kuamr Mukerjee cohosted some club & community service programme. The year 1988-89, the President of the club was none other than Rtn. Tarun kumar Basu. During the year, apart from usual activities, the club had organized drug abuse prevention programme. The club received citations & certificates. In President Rtn. Sudhir Saha’s year 1989-90, the club again witnessed some major achievements. Upto this year, the club was not having its own building although the land had been allotted in 1984. President Rtn. Sudhir Saha took upon himself to start construction work laid by MIC Shri Subhas Chakrabarty, Chief Secretary Shri tarun Dutta & Chairman Bidhan Nagar notified area on 16th January, 1990 and the building was ready for use within 6 months. The building was formally inaugurated on 23rd June, 1990 by then RI President Raja Sahoo & then DG Rtn. Kamal Seth. The inauguration meeting was attended by many district officials, like district secretary Rtn Amit C Majumdar, PDGs Rtn Ajay Dutta, Subimal Ghosh, Vijay Bahndari, etc. The building was named as Prakash Bhavan in appreciation of tremendous efforts to start the club in 1977. The year 1990-91 Rtn. S.N. Dokania became the President and started regular weekly meeting in our Prakash Bhavan. The year 1991-92, Rtn. Dr. Amiya Mukherjee was the President of the club – during the year, the club had organized baby show camp & seminar on women’s heath matter. Ajit Karmakar was the President of the club in the year 1992-93 with DG Rtn. Chandra Mohan and RI theme was ‘Real happiness is helping others’. The club opened & started vocation training & tailoring center at Prakash Bhavan with 2 sewing machine. The club sponsored first & only club for senior citizen – Probus club. The club for the first time in history sponsored & Rtn. Amit C Majumdar was elected DG for the year 1993-94. The club organized leg for legless project. The club sponsored 3 candidates for first RYLA at Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and received most of the trophies at RYLA, 1993. During the eventful year, the club received RI Presidential citation & DG citation. In the year 1993-94, under Rtn. Amit Roychowdhury’s Presidentship the club participated in district programme & received appreciation for its activities. In the year 1994-95, Rtn. Sachin Basak, brother of PP Dr. Hirak Basak became the President. The major milestone of the year was co-hosting district conference with RC Srerampore during the Governorship of DG Amit C Majumdar. The district chairman Rt. Ajit Karmakar organized district cultural programme by Rotarians and their family members. PP Rtn. Chandan Maitra visited Brazil as GSE team leader. Late Rtn. Sudamanand Thakur was President in the year 1995-96 and during his year club faced some difficult problems which was ably handled by Secretary Rtn. Satyabban Sen. The club organized padyatra against AIDS & Drug abuse. Biswanath Basu was President in the year 1996-97. The club organized distribution of uniforms to 100 mentally re****ed children at Prabartak, vocational guidance & career development programme in various schools, like Bhartiya Bidya Bhavan, BD Govt. school and also 120 girls from Netaji Nagar College for women, Tallygunge at Prakash Bhavan organized by the secretary then vocational service director Rtn. Biplab Bose aided by PP Rtn Sudhev Saha, Secretary Rtn MM Saha & Rtn Ranajit Pramanik. 14 members with families visited Kathmandu during district conference. The club received 2nd prize for district vocational service and 7 more citations & plaques from the district as appreciation for its various activities. The year 1997-98 witnessed one of its very senior members, Rtn. Pushpa Ranjan Mukhopadhyay as President of the club. P.R. Mukhopadhyay very methodically & systematically organized various community service activities. His objective was at least one project every month. The RIPR barry E Thompson released 2nd volume of career guidance & development compiled & published by the club at district conference. The club donated generously to Bharat Sevasram, Missionaries of Charities & International eye bank. The club participated in car rally & padyatra for pulse polio. 3 eye checkup camps were held at Prakash Bhawan where 185 patients were checked up. 30 patients given hearing aids. The club sponsored Ms. Ritu Karmakar, daughter of PP Rtn. Ajit Karmakar for youth exchange programme & Ms. Aditya Bhaduri for group study exchange programme. The year 1998-99 was President Rtn. ManMohan Saha’s year. The year will be remembered for good participation in the district and in all rotary activities – one new RC Cat Taldi (Sunderban Arthik Unanayan samity) was opened. He followed year’s theme ‘Follow your rotary dreams’ literally and made the club’s image as vibrant & dynamic club in the district. The club received 11 numbers of awards all totals including certificates & citations. Dr. Subir kumar Bose became President in the year 1999-2000. Truly he maintained the full momentum & tempo of the previous year and organized various community service programmes, like leg for legless, aid to handicapped persons, support to aged & health camp for older citizens, etc. just to name a few. During his presidentship, the club had received CLE matching grant project. The proactive year 2000-01 was lead by President Rtn. Biplab Bose. Rotary theme was ‘Create awareness & take action’ under DG Ravi Sehgal. Dilip Kundu was the club secretary. The year started with opening of a new RCC at Mahisbathan on 1st July and that sets the tone & pace for the year, which was maintained for next 12 months. The membership growth was phenomenal 35%. The club bulletin converted into 4 pager every week. The club organized seminars for non-rotarians & new-rotarians. The club hosted district picnic ‘HoiChoi’ on 14th January, 2001, where 300 persons participated. The club co-hosted 7 district events. Eye checkup camps organized for 1020 patients & 530 spectacles distributed. The club co-hosted ‘nabadisha’ for street children jointly with RC DumDum, started 6 new RCCs and model village at Pathargatha approved by district. Implemented CLE matching grant & started IOL matching grant. The club hosted 5 Japanese GSE team from Japan district 7410 for 3 days in Rotarian houses & 4 Rotary club jointly felicitated them at Prakash Bhawan. The club also sponsored GSE team to Japan led by team leader PDG Amit C Majumdar. The first floor of Prakash Bhawan was inaugurated on charter day 12th August, 2000 by chairman Bidhannagar municipality and DG Ravi Sehgal. The club received outstanding club for overall excellence award along with 14 other citation/cup/memento/ certificates. The year 2001-02 was also hailed one of the very active year under the Presidentship of Rtn. Ranajit kumar Pramanik with Rtn. Dr. A.N. Banerjee as Secretary. Membership strengths increased to 85. The club celebrated Silver Jubilee celebration installation ceremony & charter day. Organized literacy & CLE projects, IOL & eye checkup camps where 115 patients were given IOL operations & 805 spectacles were distributed. The club started 11 new RCCs. International evening executed CLE & IOL matching grants projects. The clubs received 14 citations/certificates including Paul Harris community service Shield – 1st prize for community service. The year 2002-03 was the year of Rtn. Dr. Bhaskar Bose as the President with rotary theme ‘Saw the seeds of love’ along with club Secreatry Rtn. Ranjit Ray. It was the year of learning with literacy programme, books for all, toy bank, cycle van project under micro-credit scheme, just to mention a couple of them. The membership strength had grown to 85. The club had participated in various district events & own various citation/ certificates/ mementos during the eventful year. In the year 2003-04 Rtn. Dilip kumar Kundu became the President. The RI theme for the year was ‘Lend a Hand’ and conforming to it the club hosted a number of community service projects. An ambulance was donated by the club in association with the trust. The club had received award for best club in the month of September, 2003 along with RI President’s citation, DG’s citation & various other recognitions in district award ceremony. Prabir kumar Maulik was the President in the year 2004-05. Inline with the theme of ‘Celebrate Rotary’, the club participated in various rotary events, like RCC medical camps, international evening on world peace & understanding, RYLA celebrations, just to name a few. The club has own various accolades in the year. The year 2005-06 belongs to Rtn. Ranjit Ray as the President of the club. The RI theme was ‘Service above Self’ and the club hosted various activities, like distribution of blankets, exercise books to RCC Taldi, conducted MCH, eye camps at RCC choto jagulia, Initiated micro-credit projects, DTTs, Seva Mela, etc. There were superb fellowship events too - Charted night, Holi Meet at Nalban boating complex, co-hosted district programme ‘naba-barser adda’. The club had received many prizes during the year. The year 2006-07 was memorable in the history of the club as it saw the first ever lady president of the club Rtn. Dr. Aruna Tantia. With the RI theme of ‘lead the way’, the club marched ahead in all aspects of Rotary. The year saw a fabulous 20 awards for the club including best co-operative project award for distributing 550 wheel-chairs to handicapped people. In the year 2007-08 Rtn Gautam Gangopadhyay was the president of the club & the club has won several awards in the year. In the year 2008-09 Rtn Mriganka Mouli Banerjee was the president of the club & Secretary was Rtn Ashim Guha Roy . In that year RI theme was – Make Dreams Real. In the year 2009-10 Rtn Mrityunjoy Hazra was the president of the club & Secretary was Rtn Pranab Ray . In that year RI theme was – Future of Rotary in your Hands. In the year 2010-11 Rtn Ashim Guha Roy is the president of the club & Secretary is Rtn Surajit Chakraborty . In that year RI theme is – Building Communities Bridging Continents. In the year 2011-12 Rtn PRANAB RAY is the president of the club & Secretary is Rtn CHANDRA SARKAR . In that year RI theme is – Reach Within to Embrace Humanity. In the year 2012-13 Rtn CHANDRA SEKHAR ROY is the President of the club & the Secretary is Rtn AVIK BOSE. In this year RI theme is – Peace Through Service.
