An IAS officer of UP cadre, Ravindra Kumar, who conquered the Mount Everest for the second time on May 23, presented the Indian tricolour and Uttar Pradesh government’s logo, which he had carried with him to the world’s highest peak, to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday.

Earlier, Kumar had scaled Mount Everest in 2013. He is the first and only IAS officer who has climbed Mt Everest.

“Kumar’s feat has brought laurels to the country and Uttar Pradesh. He made water conservation his motto in this expedition which is praiseworthy,” Yogi said.

Kumar, an IAS officer of the 2011 batch, is posted in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the Union government. He had named his expedition ‘Swachh Ganga Swachh Bharat Everest Abhiyaan 2019’ and carried Gangajal to the highest peak of the world.

He first scaled Mt Everest in 2013 from Nepal (south) route, inspired by Sikkim earthquake of 2011 in which mountaineers were called for search and rescue mission post earthquake.

His second Everest expedition in 2015 was organised with a mission to spread awareness of the importance of sanitation in India through ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“During that expedition, an earthquake stuck Nepal and the Mt Everest base camp was hit by avalanche on April 25, 2015, causing huge damage to life and property. We saved many lives and the expedition was called off,” Kumar told The Pioneer.

This time, he scaled Mt Everest from China (north) rout. Thus, he has became one of the few Indians who have scaled Mt Everest from both Nepal and China routes.