CM assures help for Rotary programmes

Inaugurates the three-day South Asia Summit of Rotary International

Hyderabad: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy lauded Rotarians for their welfare services that were similar to the initiatives and schemes of the State government in the field of education, health, sanitation and women empowerment. He assured that the State government would extend all possible help in expanding horizons of Rotary Internationals (RI) programmes.

Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated the three-day Rotary South Asia Summit 2013 on Friday, where thousands of Rotarians from over 15 countries converged to participate. Addressing the audience, he stated that the State government was making focused efforts in healthcare, education, women empowerment and child protection He elaborated that the government spent of a whopping Rs 25,000 to Rs 26,000 crore towards scholarships for students belonging to the underprivileged sections.He listed out the health scheme initiatives of the State government, including 'Arogyasri programme.'

Rotary International president-nominee for the year 2014 Gary CK Huang, RI director Shekhar Mehta and Summit Convenor shared the dais with the CM. Around 1,000 delegates from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Canada, Malaysia, Maldives, Taiwan, Thailand and US are taking part in the summit. Gary said that the fight against polio in India was the successful collaboration of RI and the government.

Shekhar said that the RI had spent nearly Rs 200 crore making possible 2,000 heart surgeries for children in India. "The majority of the beneficiaries were from Pakistan. We (RIs) have spent US $ 1.5 billion on this and the fight against it will continue till polio is completely erased from Mother Earth," he added.Throughout the three-day summit, speakers, panellists and experts will come together to discuss and share experiences in the four major areas including education, healthcare, women empowerment, water and sanitation.