ROTARY CLUB OF KOMPALLY-MEDCHAL
(Formerly: Rotary Club Of Medchal)
Medchal which was the Mandal head quarters was also one of the many Industrial zones in Ranga reddy District. The Medcahal industrial area boasted of wide variety of industries like Packaging, Engineering, Refrigiration, Coldstorage,Plastic moulding , Biscuit making, Surgical instrumentation, Homeo pharma etc to name a few. Most of the industries were run by first generation industrialists young, full of energy and commited. One amongst this group was Mr Shenoy who had then recently shifted from Vadi near Mumbai to set up his Packaging Unit here. He was a Rotarian when at Vadi. After coming here he along of many of his newly acquired friends in the Industrial area started the Rotary Club of Medchal on 30th June 1989. Our club was formed under the aegis of Rotary club of Secunderabad and due to special efforts of Rtn PDG Marri Ravinder Reddy . Rtn GB Shenoy was the Charter President and Rtn Basith Quadri as Charter Secretary. The club had stalwarts like Dr Sudershan Vashist,Ananath Narayanana, SK Gupta, Pawan Gupta, Ashok Gupta, GRK Raju and many more ,all of who were the Charter members. Today we are blessed as we still have our charter Member Dr Vashist continuing as an active member guiding the club from time to time.
Being a rural club (those days) had its initial set backs but the vibrant members overcame all hurdles with a smile. Those days there were very strict guidelines with regular meetings , attendance , making up attendance by visiting other clubs etc. Initially the club meetings were held at Medchal for some time and were later shifted to Rotary Surana Hall at Ranigunj. Our meeting here use to be very lively as we use to get a lot of visiting rotarians trying to make up their attendance. Being a Saturday Breakfast meeting really attracted a number of members from other clubs.
Rotary club of Medchal was a small but Vibrant club . The projects taken up were more address concerns of the local . One of the best examples was the bullock carts. Tough a scene of the past a lot of bullock carts use to ply on National Highway 7 now known as NH44 . There was jus one wide road for up and down traffic. The lorry traffic at night use to be high leading to many fatal accidents between lorries and unfortunate bullock carts as they had no lights on them. RC Medchal took up the issues and solved it successfully by fixing all bullock carts with reflectors thus reducing the problem to a large extent.
- hardworking entrepreneurs they realized the importance of education. Assisting in development of two local government schools one at Kistapur ( where our participation still contines) and Sutarguda. Class rooms, books, uniforms,benches ,bathrooms etc were provided besides giving the children gifts and prizes for their performance in studies and cultural activities. The same zeal led to giving Scholarship amount and certificates to the brilliant children at Gimma School in Adilabad district. Vocational training was imparted to local youth who were later absorbed by the local industries owned by these rotarians.
Medical facility was a major issue . Dedicated work by likes od Rtn Dr Stanely and Rtn Dr Geetha who started Suraksha Clinic to provide first aid to accident victims of the highway cannot be forgotten. With a matching grant from a German club RC Medchal had made an Ambulance service available to Medchal and surrounding villages.
Polio eradication had been one the pet projects of RC Medchal. The level of satisfaction the members derived during this activity cannot be described. Providing Polio drops to the under privileged children of the Migrant labour working at the brick kilns use to transport us to an entirely different level of service.
Over the years we realized a project should not and cannot we judged based on the financial value but should be judged by the level of personal statisfaction one achieves when one sees the glow in the eyes of the beneficiery . The smile on the face of a traffic constable on duty in mid summer afternoon when he receives a packet of chilled drinking water is immeasurable. The level of dedication to service to community or the less privileged of the club members is amply exhibited when more then a 1000 patients were operated for cataract and vision provided to many more thru glasses. The personal commitment and service of the members during natural calamities , be it earthquake at Lathur( Maharastra) or the flood situation at Ananathapur cannot be summarized in just a few words of appreciation.
The club activities besides service was so much fun filled with regular family get togethers ,mostly at members houses or at theme parks with the entire families with children use to make merry. Travels of nearby areas in hired buses cannot be forgotten.
Rotary is a wonderful way of Life