Every morning at 6 am, while most residents of Chandigarh’s Sector 49 prepare for a walk or a cup of tea, an 88-year-old man wheels a rehri (a cart) down the street, collecting litter.

The man is Inder Jit Singh Sidhu, a retired DIG of Punjab Police, who superannuated in 1996. For the past few years, Sidhu has made it his personal responsibility to keep his neighbourhood clean.

He lives in the IAS-IPS Officers’ Cooperative Society and says watching garbage pile up in his area every day leaves him disheartened. Repeated complaints to civic authorities went unanswered. “So I decided to do it myself,” he told ANI. “There is no shame in cleaning. Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

What began as a solo effort, pushing abandoned rehris of sanitary workers lying unused and collecting trash was once met with ridicule. “People called me mad,” Sidhu said. But his persistence wore down scepticism. Now, many residents have joined in or at least extended support.

Over the years, the neighbourhood has changed. So has the perception of the man who began by simply picking up litter. “I was not happy with the low rank Chandigarh got in the Swachh Survekshan,” he said. The city came second in 2024–25 among cities with a population of 3–10 lakh. “But instead of complaining, I chose action.”

A citizen’s call

Upset that the “City Beautiful” does not consistently top cleanliness rankings, Sidhu believes Chandigarh can do better, if more people pitch in. “If you visit foreign countries, their streets are spotless. Why can’t ours be the same?” he asked.

He knows his body has limits. He uses bags or abandoned carts to gather the waste. “My contribution is minimal, but it brings me satisfaction,” he said. “I will continue this work till my last breath.”

Sidhu’s commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed. Industrialist Anand Mahindra, in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), called his act “powerful service.”

“He says he wasn’t happy with the ‘low rank’ Chandigarh got in the Swachh Survekshan listing,” Mahindra wrote. “But instead of complaining, he chooses action... a quiet, persistent belief in a better world... Purpose doesn’t retire. Service doesn’t age.”

He added: “Each piece of trash he clears is more than just litter removed. It’s a statement… a belief in living with meaning, regardless of age or recognition.”

As he pushes his rehri down the street, Sidhu makes a statement every day: that keeping a city clean doesn’t take grand gestures. It takes effort.