Mysuru: Unsung hero of Organ Donation Pramod Laxman Mahajan and Ashish Sharma, campaigner of ‘Making India free from child begging’ were felicitated in city yesterday.

CII-Yi Mysore and Rotary Mysore had jointly organised an event at Rotary Hall, JLB Road to honour Pramod Laxman for his journey on educating organ donation across India and Ashish Sharma for his crusade against child begging.

Professor and Head, Department of Nephrology, JSS Medical College and Hospital Dr. Manjunath Shetty spoke about the importance of organ donation and on how a single donor can save a minimum of 8 lives.

“Every year, organ donation is increasing as awareness has been created. But still there is a big gap between the demand and donors. Last year there were only 138 organ donations in Karnataka as per Zonal Co-ordination Committee of Karnataka,” he said.

Chair of Yi Mysuru D. Ravi Shankar, Co-chair Ghanshyam Murali, Rotary Mysore President G.S. Sumeeth, Secretary Ramchandra Raje Urs, Co-chair for Branding and Communication Vertical of Yi Rohan Krishna, members of Yi Mysuru and Rotary Mysore were present.

During the event, Pramod Laxman was honoured for his persistent work towards Organ Donation Awareness campaigns across India. Pramod Laxman, a 67-year-old farmer hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra, has turned into a social worker to raise awareness about organ donation.

He has undertaken a 10,000 km bike expedition, a pan India ride to contribute his bit to the cause. He started his journey on Oct.21, 2018 from Pune and covered about 6,000 km on bike for the cause. Apart from donating his own kidney to an ex-army man 18 years ago, he has  helped 350 other people in donating kidneys.