Odisha-born IAS Guruprasad Mohapatra new AAI chairman

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 15:

Odisha-born Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Guruprasad Mohapatra has been appointed as chairman of Airport Authority of India (AAI).

The 1986 batch Gujarat cadre officer served as commissioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for over three years and was appointed Joint secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. After about two years of his tenure as Joint secretary, he was appointed the chairman of AAI.

Mohapatra also served the Joint MD of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Special Commissioner (Enforcement) of Sales Tax department and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and as the Commissioner of Transport during his stint in Gujarat.

He had a long stint in the power sector, where he was involved in the comprehensive reforms in the power sector and restructuring of the erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board into several commercial entities. He started in the State Electricity Sector with the erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board in 2002 and worked with various Electricity Companies such as GSEC (generation company) and the distribution companies such as PGVCL, DGVCL & UGVCL. He has rich and varied experience in the chemicals & fertilizers sector as he has worked as the Managing Director of Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd. (GACL) and Managing Director of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Limited (GNFC). He worked as a Municipal Commissioner in Surat Municipal Corporation from 1999 to 2002, during which he was actively involved in the process of converting Surat into one of the models of urban governance in the country with its thrust on Solid Waste Management Practices, quality infrastructure and financial management.

Mohapatra holds an M.A. in Political Science and M. Phil in Diplomacy (International Relation) and an M.B.A.