Man on a mission

They call him ‘Rain Man’ for his extensive work in the water sector. And fittingly enough, G Asok Kumar has assumed the position of Director-General for the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. He has earlier served as joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation,director in the Ministry of Power and executive director in NMCG. In fact, Kumar conducted the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign, which led to the sanction of more than 9.5 lakh water conservation and rainwater harvesting structures across India. Infrastructure projects to his credit include the Outer Ring Road project in Hyderabad, Phase 2 of the MGD Krishna Drinking Water Project, the MGD Godavari Drinking Water Project and many sewerage treatment plants. Kumar, who is the recipient of several awards such as the SKOCH Award for Public Services 2021, the Jal-Mitra award from the Andhra Pradesh government and the first Telangana Excellence Award for outstanding work in public administration, is also the founder and president of the India Smart Grid Forum. We wish him luck on his new journey!