Engr. MA Wahab
District Governor 3281
History of Rotary in Bangladesh
Rotary came to Asia in 1999 with the establishment of the Rotary Club of Manila in the Philippines. Rotary Club of Calcutta was Chartered during the following Rotary year. does the Global Organization was introduced to the subcontinent.
Under the auspices of the Calcutta Rotary Club, Dhaka organized themselves on December 22, 1937 to form the first Rotary club in Bangladesh. It secured its charter on February 26 1938. It took 14 years before the second club could be organized in Chittagong on September 26 1952. The real take off of Rotary started when Bangladesh became a sovereign Nation. Starting with only 7 clubs in 1971, now there are around 500 Rotary clubs in Bangladesh with a membership of almost 8000 rotarians.
Previously Bangladesh was under district 329. During the district 329 conference held in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1983, Rotary International decided to create district 328 which would take effect from 1 July 1984 and cover the entire geographical area of Bangladesh.
The office of the first District Governor of this district was served by Azizul Haque of Rotary Club of Comilla. In 1991-92 district 328 was remembered as RI District 3280. Considering the large number of members and clubs in the district, in a meeting in May 2011, the Board of Directors of Rotary International agreed to recognize the clubs of district 3280 into two new districts 3281 & 3282, effective from 1st July 2013. Based on the location of it’s regular meeting venue, Rotary Club of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar is now in RI District 3281.
