‘Rotary has committed $200 million to polio eradication over the next three years’

Stressing upon the need to eradicate poverty he said that it could only be achieved by laying emphasis on education. “Education is the key and our educational programme is one of the largest in the world. Other than education in my tenure I will be giving importance to water shortage and sanitation problem,” he said.

Ashok Mahajan,director,Rotary International said that Rotary club is very much committed to eradicating polio from the country and compared to other states polio cases are high in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “ When we started the initiative it was very difficult to convince people but now the things are changing and the number of polio cases are coming down tremendously. In Maharashtra there were only two cases reported last year. Out of the total expenditure 53 per cent is earmarked for India” he said

Participating in the press conference Rotary district governor Vilas Jagtap said that it was an historic occasion for the 84 Rotary Clubs of Pune and Raigad,as this is the only the second time that a president elect is visiting the district in the last 30 years.

Kenny also addressed a meeting of 500 Rotarians in Pune yesterday and chartered an interact club of blind students and dedicated a science lab to Rathi High School. Dr Madhav Borate and Deepak Shikarpur and also attended the press conference.