Lodge Keys Freemasons from Hyderabad on a mission to propagate eye donation

Embark on ‘Masons on Wheels’, a 40,000 kms car journey
Now reach Visakhapatnam to coincide with RGL Meet being held in the city

Visakhapatnam... 1st March 2008: Eyes are windows to the world. Loss of sight is a devastating experience. Corneal blindness affects mainly children and young adults who have a long life ahead of them. The number of Corneal Blind in India is estimated to be about 1.1 million and a majority of them are children. Sight can be restored by corneal transplantation, but only 13,000 corneal transplants are done in India every year. Hence, eye donations are the need of the hour as thousands of patients are waiting to be operated and recover their vision.

To address this issue members of Hyderabad’s Lodge Keys No.297, a primary unit of Freemasonry, a 3000 years old one of the oldest secular fraternal society spread across the globe embark on a mission to propagate the message of eye donation and urge people to come forward and pledge their eyes. ‘Masons on Wheels’ – an initiative taken up by them for the cause to travel 40,000 kms all over India reached Visakhapatnam traveling a distance of 12,000 kms through ten states. The visit of the ‘Masons on Wheels’ initiative coincides with the Annual Investiture of the Regional Grand Lodge of South India being held in the city.

Giving details, addressing a press conference here in city today W. Bro. Praful Kumar Sahgal, Worshipful Master, Lodge Keys No. 297 said, "The Masons on Wheels initiative has traveled 12,000 kms till date covering ten states viz. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka and Goa. During the journey, the members sporting white T-shirts and red hats with eye donation messages on their T-shirts stopped at various places interacting with the people, displaying banners, distributing information and spread the message of brotherhood and promoting eye donation. We plan to travel a total of 40,000 Kms covering various parts of the country."

Bro. J. Sampath Kumar, Project Chairman for the ‘Masons on Wheels’ initiative informed that ‘Masons on Wheels’ tour connecting Masonry with society was flagged-off in September 2007 at Hyderabad by Justice Devinder Gupta, Former Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, who is also associated with Freemasonry as The Grand Master of Grand Lodge of India.
Freemasons are deeply involved in helping other people. From its earliest days, charity has been the most visible Masonic activity, with Freemasons concerned with the care of underprivileged, he added.

The team of Lodge Keys No. 297 on the ‘Masons on Wheels’ journey comprises of W. Bro. Ramana Gudipati, W. Bro. D. Ramchandram, Bro. J. Sampath Kumar, W. Bro. Praful Kumar Sahgal, Bro. Vijay K. Beerval, Bro. P. S. Chiranjeevi, Bro. P. S. Ramesh, Bro. A. Shree Nagesh, Bro. V. Ksheera Sagar, Bro. K.H.B. Atmaram, Bro. Madhusudhan Bojja, Bro. MVV Seshu Kumar, Bro. Kaja Nagaraju and Bro. G. Vidhyakar Rao

About Freemasonry: Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest secular fraternal societies. It is a worldwide organisation based on the principle of the ‘Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man’. It has existed in India for over 250 years and in Andhra Pradesh for 200 years. It has over one and half crore members globally across 150 countries, 18000 all over India and 1500 in Andhra Pradesh. Its primary unit of organisation is called a ‘Lodge.’ There are 360 lodges in India functioning under the Charter of Grand Lodge of India. In Andhra Pradesh there are around 30 number of lodges in places such as the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Warangal, Kurnool, Vijayawada, Guntur, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Anakapally, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

Globally Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Benjamin Fraklin, Henry Ford, Clive Lloyd and All Presidents of United States of America were its member. In India Swami Vivekananda, C. Rajagopalachari, Motilal Nehru, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, Madhavrao Scindia, Nawab of Pataudi, locally several Nawabs of Nizam, many judges, bureaucrats, officers and well-respected individuals and others are its members. Some of the members from Andhra Pradesh include Nawab Sir Salar Jung Bahadur and Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad (both Prime Ministers of the state of Hyderabad), Sir Terrence Keys (The British Resident), Raja Venkat Ram Reddy, many High court judges, to name a few from the list of distinguished personalities.