I do not forget 20th May 2022, when on the invitation of Dr Prasadarao’s family I entered in the IIP auditorium and saw charismatic photograph of Dr Prasadarao. It was so lively that I thought he will come out of the photograph and will address us with his usual style. Alas, it was our bad luck and we missed his address for ever. That was irreparable loss not only to his close family members but whole IIP family.
I remembered when we came to know that, Dr Prasadarao from IPCL will be joining IIP as Director, I thought since he was from PSU, he will maintain distance from junior people like us. After interacting with him on different occasions , I realised my assumption was totally wrong, he was very caring and treated not only employees but their family members also very affectionately. He used to remembered their names also.
Earlier going to Delhi on tour was very difficult fir us as there were only few trains, he permitted IIP staff to avail taxi facility. Not only this, he has instructed administration to provide all the help to IIP staff so that their work should not be hampered.
During his regime because of his marketing skill, all top level persons not only from Indian hydrocarbon industry but also from international companies like, UOP, Chevron, ExonMobile used to visit IIP. For marketing of technologies developed by IIP he used to organize technology road shows in metro cities.
During his regime IIP got great publicity and received many awards. He himself was an international expert in catalysis area and created a strong group with many Ph. D. students.
After superannuation also he worked as consultant to many companies. In IIP pensioner’s WhatsApp group he used to send Birthday messages to the concerned pensioner mentioning his achievements in IIP covering minute details. That gesture clearly indicted how much he was loving all of us.
Dear Dr. Uday’s , efforts of compiling our experiences associted with Dr Prasadarao in the form of book will always cherish our memories of Godly like person Dr Prasadarao.
– Shrikant Nanoti
Ex. Chief Scientist