Club Founded on: 14th April 1998 with the first meeting of The Provisional Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town held on that day at the fifth floor pent-house of Hotel Fidalgo, Panaji being chaired by Pradip Talaulicar, the 1997-98 President of the sponsoring club in the presence of GSR Ravi (Ravindra Dalvi) when Mid-Towners elected Surendra Salgaonkar and Ashok Menon as Charter President & Charter Secretary respectively with the other Board of Directors.
Birth Story of The Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town
Name: The Rotary Club Of Panaji Mid-Town
Locality: Panaji, Goa, India
District: Rotary International District 3170 comprising parts of Karnataka & Maharashtra States and the entire State of Goa
Club No.: 51217
District Governor (1997-98): Dr.B.L.Patil from Hubli, Karnataka
Rotary International President (1997-98): Glen Kinross
R.I. President’s Theme (1997-98): Show Rotary Cares
Sponsoring Club: The Rotary Club of Panaji Governor’s Special Representative (GSR): Ravindra Dalvi of Rotary Club of Panaji
List of 25 Charter Members with their Classifications:
Deelip Phadte (Accounting)
Manoj Caculo (Automotive Retailing)
Anil Nispat-Desai (Banking- additional active)
Tushar Sawkar (Building Materials Fabrication)
Babuli Kamat Ghanekar (Building Materials Retailing)
Sudin Pai Kane (Carpentry)
Keshav Kamat (Confectionery Manufacturing)
Kiran Shirsat (Crown Caps Manufacturing)
Rajiv Shirodkar (Civil Engineering)
Dr. Fernando Ferreira (Dentistry)
Verner Velho (Department Stores)
R.D. Bhide (Electrical Consultancy)
Vijay Hede(Finance Investments Consultancy)
Ashok Agshikar(Fire Fighting Equipment Retailing)
Ashok Menon (Govt. Service – Fire Protection)
Hemal Khanderia (Garments)
Madhav Nevrekar (Granites Processing)
N. Suryanarayana ((Handicrafts Manufacturing)
Manguirish Pai Raiker(Industrial Packaging)
Gurudas Kamat (Interior Designing)
R. Ashok (Marine Exports)
Shailesh Amonkar (Marketing Consultancy)
Dr. Deep Bhandare (Orthopaedic Surgery)
Surendra Salgaonkar(RCC Pipes Manufacturing)
M.G.Chandrashekar (Structural Engineering)
{ N.B. : List of Charter Members closed on 14/04/98 and submitted to R.I. had two more names , that of S. Narendra Pai ( Banking ) and Ian Dias ( Real Estate Development )- their Charter Membership fees having been paid to R.I. ; these persons opted out due to transfer/business pressure }
Charter Board of Directors (continued for Rotary year 1998-99):
President : Surendra Salgaonkar
President-Elect : Manguirish Pai Raiker
Vice-President : Keshav Kamat
Vice-President : Dr. Deep Bhandare
Secretary : Ashok Menon
Jt. Secretary : Ashok Agshikar
Treasurer : Deelip Phadte
Sergeant-at-Arms : Kiran Shirsat
Director, Club service : Vijay Hede
Director, Vocational Service : Anil Nispat- Desai
Director, Community Service : Tushar Sawkar
Director, International Service : R. Ashok
Director, Youth Service : Manoj Caculo
{ N.B. : Application for Membership in Rotary International as of 14/04/98 with 27 Charter Members had the following only 10 Officers and members of the board of directors : President – Surendra Salgaonkar , President-elect – Manguirish Pai Raiker , Vice- president – Keshav Kamat , Secretary – Ashok Menon ,Treasurer – Deelip Phadte , Sergeant-at-arms – Kiran Shirsat , Director – Vijay Hede , Director – Anil Nispat-Desai , Director – S. Narendra Pai and Director – R. Ashok. Club added 3 more persons viz., Vice-president – Dr. Deep Bhandare, Jt. Secretary – Ashok Agshikar, and Director – Manoj Caculo; and Tushar Sawkar was brought in as Director in place of S. Narendra Pai who had opted out. }
First Regular Meetings: The Provisional Club held its weekly meetings at Hotel Fidalgo under the guidance of GSR Ravi till Charter Presentation .Thereafter, the Club held its meetings at Keni’s Hotel , from there to Hotel Miramar Residency and from July 2003, the meeting place venue has been at Hotel Goa Marriott Resort at Miramar.
Club Chartered (admitted to R.I.) on: 20th May 1998, Charter having been signed by R.I.President Glen Kinross and District Governor Dr. B.L. Patil
Club Charter presented on: Sunday, 2nd August 1998 by then IPDG Dr. B.L. Patil at a gala ceremony held at Joao De Deus Memorial Hall, Panaji
Club Bulletin: The first issue of the bulletin vol.1, no.1 for the month of July 1998 edited by Vijay Hede was released at the hands of IPDG Dr.B. L. Patil during the Charter Presentation Ceremony. The Theme for 1998-99 was Follow Your Rotary Dreams by R.I. President James Lacy and Bulletin deriving its name “The Dream“ from the same.
First few projects/ activities: Thriving on fellowship, friendliness and service-mindedness ,the club undertook the following activities during its formative years:
Membership Development: Prasad Keni (Woven Sacks Manufacturing) and Rajesh Khaunte (Vehicle Body Building) were inducted in the rotary fold during Charter Presentation at the hands of IPDG Dr. B.L. Patil raising the club membership to 27.
First contributions to TRF towards Paul Harris Fellows with US $ 1000 each were made by Babuli Ghanekar, Vijay Hede, Keshav Kamat, Manoj Caculo and Rajiv Shirodkar during the Official Visit to the Club of the DG (1998-99 ) Dr. Rajan Deshpande
Hosted District PETS & SETS on behalf of DG Raju Doshi (1999-2000 ) on 8th & 9th May 1999 at Dona Alcina , Candolim, Goa
Club by way of Children’s Opportunities Grants was awarded US $ 12500 by R.I. President James Lacy (1998-99) for their Polio Corrective Surgeries Project # 879 during 1998-99. –this is now a permanent project of the club
Three needy and deserving students in 1998-99 were supported towards their education from initiative taken by Babuli Ghanekar and Manoj Caculo - becoming the fore-runners of the club’s now prestigious Educational Grants Project
Hosted District GSE Leader and Team Selection interviews at Hotel Nova Goa , Panaji in September 1999 when Raju Doshi was the DG
Laparoscopic Female Sterilization Project which is now an ongoing Club Project was initiated in January 2000 and formally inaugurated in January 2001 by DG (2000-01 ) Mahendra Mutha during his Official Visit to the Club ; thanks to Dr. Vinaykumar Pai Raikar , his Raikar Nursing Home has been offering free services to the poor and needy patients undergoing these operations
Co-hosted with other 12 Rotary Clubs (then) in Goa a District Intercity Meet on 20th April 2000 in honour of the then serving R.I. President Carlos Ravizza (1999-2000) under guidance of District Governor Raju Doshi – so much touched was R.I. President with the club’s Children’s Opportunities Grants Project for polio- corrective surgeries and the personal efforts of Dr. Deep Bhandare towards that goal that he ( R.I.P ) awarded Deep with a Paul Harris Fellowship during that occasion.
Under Matching Grants Program of TRF and in partnership with Rotary Club of Dielsdorf from Switzerland & US $ 2000 District Designated Fund ( DDF ) from our own District 3170, A Safe Drinking Water Project costing US $ 6500 was commissioned at the Kadamba Bus-stand, Panaji and inaugurated at the hands of DG ( 2000-01) Mahendra Mutha during his Official Visit to the Club ; this Project was initiated during 1998-99 completed all formalities in 1999-2000 including DDF and Foundation Stone for the project was laid by DG (1999-2000 ) Raju Doshi during his tenure .
Making of the club : Untiring efforts by GSR Ravi has gone into the making of this vibrant club, the 10th Rotary Club in Goa and the 2nd in the capital city of Panaji.
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His persistence since 1993 for Rotary extension both internally and externally bore fruits when the board of Panaji Rotary Club ultimately decided to form a new club and ratified the decision at the club in a closed meeting on 17th September 1997; task of forming the club "The Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town" was entrusted to Ravi.
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DG (1997 -98 ) was informed , who in the first week of March 1998 , formally appointed Ravi as GSR to form the club . In the meanwhile Ravi had identified more than 30 prospective members ,all leaders in their professions and vocations from diverse fields representing the cross-section of the community and of age group of 35; Ravi had series of one-to-one meetings with these prospects giving them the first lessons in Rotary – so also all administrative and organizational aspects like attending weekly meetings regularly, meeting place and time ,fee structure, nature of the board etc.
All relevant information / documents sent to R.I. including charter fee of US $ 15 per member and DG informed Ravi at the end of March 1998 that the club can meet as a provisional club till Charter is received. Club started with the 1st meeting on 14th April and all 25 members paid their dues to Ravi by 17th April – dues then per member consisted of ( 1) US $ 15 as charter fee payable to R.I. (2 ) Rs. 2000 as entrance fee and (3) Rs.2000 payable semi-annually i.e. a total of Rs. 4600 collected from each member .Charter fees sent by Ravi to R.I. and balance amount of Rs.96673 deposited by Ravi in the sponsor club’s bank account in the name of “ The Provisional Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town “ and handed over by a DD payable to Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town to Surendra , President of Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town on 28th July 1998.
In between Surendra and Menon accompanied Ravi as his guests , attended PETS & SETS on 9th and 10th May 1998 at Dandeli in Karnataka and the District Assembly on 30th and 31st May at Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra (they were not allowed to register as Rotarians at that time as the Charter was not received till then- and were advised so , by the then DG Dr. B.L. Patil and the DGE Dr. Rajan Deshpande). Ravi got the Great News about the Charter having been received by the DG Dr. B.L. in mid-June 1998 and who in consultation with Ravi fixed 2nd August for the Charter presentation.
During its (Club’s) formative years Ravi had an opportunity to be with his baby club when DG Dr.Rajan appointed him as GSR for one more year till June 1999 and another great opportunity when DG Raju Doshi appointed Ravi as the Assistant Governor (1999-2000) for the entire revenue district of Goa state for all 13 Rotary clubs.
Since 1st January 2001 Ravi is a proud member of the Mid-Town Club.
From the Archives of: Rtn. Ravindra Dalvi
CLUB QUICK INFO
Rotary Club of Panaji Mid-Town Club No: 51217
R.I. District: 3170
Founded on: 14-April-1998
Chartered on: 20-05-1998
Charter presented on: 02-08-1998