Mr Mukesh Kumar, a 1996 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, has been appointed the Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gujarat Maritime Board.
Having earned his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) and an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, US, he started his career in the civil services as Assistant Collector (Vadodara) and brings with him over 20 years of professional experience in public administration. Demonstrating a mix of sector vision and business acumen, he has had eminent tenures as Collector of The Dangs (Ahwa), Municipal Commissioner at Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad, Managing Director of Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb), Gujarat State Project Director of Universal Education Mission (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan), Director (Integrated Child Development Scheme – ICDS) and Commissioner of Schools. In all these positions, he has received much acclaim for making noteworthy regulatory, developmental and strategic initiatives for improvements in administrative efficiency and public welfare.
He established Engineering College, Institute of Infrastructure, Technology, Research & Management (IIT RAM) as the first Director-General of the Institute during his tenure with the Education Department. As the Managing Director of iNDEXTb, he anchored the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summits of 2011 and 2013 for promotion of investments in Gujarat. The construction of the state-of-art Business & Convention Centre – Mahatma Mandir – was done during his tenure at iNDEXTb.
As the Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which consisted of more than 25,000 workforce, his responsibilities included fulfilling the basic and essential need of citizens, i.e. water, drainage, road, street lighting, urban amenities, health and sanitation, medical facilities, smart city projects, BRTS, and looking after Sabarmati riverfront, etc. His efforts as the Municipal Commissioner of Ahmedabad led to declaration of the historic city of Ahmedabad as India’s only “World Heritage City” by UNESCO in July 2017. Mr Kumar also initiated the social project of providing affordable hospital facilities with as many as 1,500 beds and optimised the use of Internet of Things (IoT) under the smart city project. He also conceptualised a few mobile applications to make all the services of the Municipal Corporation online.
Mr Mukesh Kumar is an active communicator and a competent administrator having linguistic proficiencies in English, Gujarati and Hindi. He has joined Gujarat Maritime Board at a time when the ports and maritime sector of Gujarat is undergoing a key transformation. Important projects related to the flagship programme of the government of India, Sagarmala, are being implemented and the Board has initiated strategies like revision of the country’s first Port Policy, establishment of a Maritime University and India’s first maritime cluster. His experience will provide a further thrust to the ports and maritime sector of Gujarat, ensuring that the state maintains its numero uno status in the maritime sector of India.
