Chandigarh Administration picks 83-year-old warrior of streets among 34 for I-Day honours

The Chandigarh Administration will award commendation certificates to 34 persons, including 83-year-old sanitation warrior Inderjeet Singh Sidhu, for rendering outstanding services in their respective fields on Independence Day tomorrow.

Sidhu, a retired IPS officer, will be awarded for social service. He recently drew national attention for keeping streets in his sector clean. The octogenarian’s day starts around 6 am by picking garbage from streets in Sector 49 and transporting it in a cart to a designated dumping place. Sidhu retired from the Punjab Police as DIG in in 1996.

Among those who will be awarded for meritorious service are Prof Varsha Gupta, GMCH-32; Harish Chander, draftsman, Urban Planning Department; Maninder Singh, Sub-Divisional Engineer, Engineering Department; Deepak Kumar, senior assistant, UT Secretariat; Prashant Singh Bist, senior assistant, Sports Department; Piyush Aggarwal, TGT (Sanskrit), GMSSS-28; Amrita Bhullar, PGT (dance), GMSSS-18; Anirudh Thakur, senior assistant, Education Department; Mahavir Singh, senior assistant, Deputy Commissioner Office; Dr Ritu Jain, Deputy District Attorney; Champa Bhatt, section officer, MC; Rajni Gupta, Company Secretary, Social Welfare Department; Kanika, section officer (SAS), Estate Office; Dalip Gupta, senior assistant, Estate Office; Arvind Moudgil, nodal officer (CAT) (non-official); Raj Kumar, head sewer man, MC; Subhash, head sewer man, MC; Ram Dular and Amarnath, MC gardeners; and Karamjit Singh, sanitation worker of the MC.

Hitesh Puri, chairman, CRAWFED, who worked for the welfare of society during the COVID-19 pandemic; Shaunya Sood, a student of Carmel Covent School who runs an NGO named ‘Chetna’; Kamaljit Singh Panchhi, president, Chandigarh Traders Association, Sector 17, who encouraged people to use organic colours while celebrating Holi; Dr Swaranjit Singh, senior scientist; Himachal Mahasabha Chandigarh, which held blood donation camps and plantation drives; Jasjyot Singh, who spread awareness on fire safety; and Col Dalbir Singh (retd), who trained nearly 400 volunteers in disaster management, will be awarded for social work.

Simrat Sharma and Harpreet Sandhu will be awarded in the field of art and culture, and Aditi Sheoran, Janvi, Aditya Rampal and Gurseerat Kaur will be awarded for sport.