Chennai: ‘Going the extra mile’, is not everyone’s cup of tea. This is why, the Pride of Madras award which turns five this year, is prestigious.
Instituted by Senior Citizens’ Group Of Besant Nagar (SCGOBN), these awards honour individuals who have gone beyond the scope of normal work to help the poor and needy, especially senior citizens, and are supported by the Rotary Club of Madras Mount.
News Today spoke to the president of SCGOBN, professor Chandrashekar, who is a resident of Adyar, to find out more on this.
“We wanted to honour those who help the needy, and felt that it would be good if these are given out during Madras Week. The recipients deserve this award, and are honouring the same by accepting,” he said.
It may be noted that some of the recipients, include Dr M S Swaminathan from Taramani, who has received 60 honorary doctorates and is a Magsaysay winner, Dr Shantha, chairperson of Cancer Institute, Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar of Kotturpuram, the founder of Sneha, a suicide prevention centre and more.
So are the awards only for popular personalities belonging to the neighbourhood? “No. It is not confined to Adyar, and not all winners are popular. We encourage youngsters too,” he added.
This year, Chief Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Besant Nagar, Praveen Kumar, has been selected.
“He goes out of the way through his profession. Be it the problem of a varying signature of a senior citizen account holder, lost credit or debit card, he takes time to help. He also tells customers on how to prevent falling prey to scams, hacking and so on,” he noted.
The recipients of this year’s awards are chosen by a seven member committee including Minister for Tamil Language and Culture, K Pandiarajan, Superintendent of Police, (ED), S Radhakrishnan IPS, director of Fortis Malar Hospital, C K Nageswaran, senior software engineer, Prashant Prabhakaran, Chief Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, Besant Nagar, Praveen Kumar, philanthropist, Ram Ramamurthy, music director and composer, V Lakshmanan.
The event will be held on 24 August at Cosmopolitan Club.
For details, contact 98842 24480.