Chandigarh: On June 23, when President Droupadi Murmu confers the Padma Shri for social service upon 88-year-old Inderjit Singh Sidhu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the retired Punjab cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer will take his place alongside an array of celebrated actors, artists, scientists and public figures.Yet among all the many awardees, few stories are likely to be as quietly and unobtrusively remarkable as that of the former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, who spends his days cleaning up a problem most Indians avoid confronting, but many knowingly help create: the garbage they discard.For nearly three decades after retiring from police service in 1996, Sidhu has exchanged the authority of rank for a broom and a cycle cart, collecting litter from roadsides, parks and public spaces in Chandigarh’s Sector 49, before hauling it away for disposal himself.What troubles the octogenarian the most, is not the cleaning, but society’s attitude towards it. “People do not feel ashamed while littering,” the reclusive Sindhu told The Tribune. Instead, they feel ashamed while cleaning it up, he added.This is work that brings Sidhu neither income nor status. Indeed, when he first began sweeping Chandigarh’s streets, the response was far from admiration. Many mocked the former senior police officer, unable to comprehend why a decorated officer who had spent his career in positions of authority, would willingly take up a task commonly associated with municipal workers.Undaunted, Sidhu ignored them and pressed on.The symbols of authority that once accompanied him – a senior police officers 9mm semi-automatic handgun, be-ribboned files, wireless sets and multiple jeeps and vehicles – have been replaced by a far simpler set of tools: a jhadu (broom), a cycle cart and above all, the determination to clean his own and surrounding neighbourhoods in a section of Chandigarh that has remained remarkably unchanged despite his advancing age.Civic instinct stemming from Guru Nanak’s teachingsThe reclusive Sidhu, who repeatedly declined to answer his telephone, told The Tribune that his civic instinct stemmed from Guru Nanak’s teachings. “The air is the Guru, water is the father, and the great earth is the mother”, he said.There is nothing worse than spreading filth on one’s mother, he said with quiet conviction.Born in 1938 into a military family in Punjab’s Sangrur district, Sidhu belonged to a generation shaped by discipline, public service and a strong sense of civic duty. He joined the Punjab Police in 1961 and spent the next 35 years in uniform, rising through the ranks to become a DIG. His career coincided with some of the state’s most turbulent decades, years that tested both institutions and the individuals who served within them. Along the way, he was also awarded the President’s Police Medal, one of the service’s most respected honours.Gurbachan Jagat, former Director General of Police (DGP) in Kashmir and later Governor of Manipur, who worked with Sidhu for years in Punjab, remembers him as “a hardworking, conscientious and dedicated officer of great integrity.” Jagat, who went on to serve as Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), said Sidhu was highly disciplined and distinguished himself through his initiative and sense of responsibility.Retirement in 1996 brought Sidhu to Chandigarh, where he began what would become his next mission. The city, designed by the renowned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and celebrated as independent India’s model planned city, did not strike Sidhu as particularly clean: litter mounds accumulated in parks, along roadsides and in public spaces across the Union Territory.Initially, Sidhu began picking up rubbish during his daily morning walks, stopping occasionally to clear discarded wrappers, plastic and other waste along the paths he traversed. What began as a small personal effort gradually began consuming more and more of his time. The walks became shorter, the cleaning became longer, and eventually the walk itself disappeared altogether.“More time was dedicated to picking up trash and less time for walking,” he recalled to The Tribune. Eventually, he said he completely stopped walking and only picking up litter remained his goal. What had started as a simple act of irritation at seeing his littered surroundings neglected, had quietly transformed for Sidhu into a daily commitment.According to Sidhu’s son, Amoldeep, his father’s instinct for cleanliness long predated retirement. He recalled that Sidhu had always been disturbed by littering and, even at weddings and social gatherings decades ago, would gently admonish guests who casually discarded disposable cups and plates, instead of placing them in bins. “This was his nature from the very beginning,” Amoldeep said” he was always like this.”Sidhu’s transformation was entirely self-directed.No organisation appointed him, no campaign recruited him, and no funding supported him; he simply saw litter accumulating around him and decided to do something about it, quietly. Gradually, over years, his solitary effort began producing unexpected results, changing the behaviour of those around him, and his son recalled friends admitting that they had stopped throwing rubbish in and around their neighbourhood, knowing that his father would be the one who eventually picked it up.How social media brought Sidhu’s quiet mission to national attentionFor years, Sidhu’s work remained largely unnoticed beyond his immediate surroundings. He never organised rallies, sought publicity or lectured passers-by about civic responsibility; he simply bent down, picked up discarded wrappers, plastic bottles, fruit peels, and other refuse, and placed them in his cart for disposal – until social media recently brought his quiet mission to national attention.Gradually, clips of the elderly former police officer sweeping roads and pulling a cart laden with collected waste began surfacing online, across the City Beautiful, as Chandigarh calls itself and beyond. Lakhs of netizens encountered the striking image of the octogenarian with a flowing white beard and turban, voluntarily doing work that many avoid, even though the waste he was collecting was generated by every section of society.These images struck a chord nationwide. Among those who publicly praised him was industrialist Anand Mahindra, who described Sidhu’s efforts as an example of service, discipline and purpose that transcended age and status. The national attention also changed perceptions closer to home. Amoldeep said that many of the same people who had once questioned or even ridiculed his father’s habit began expressing admiration and pride, particularly after his Padma Shri was announced earlier this year.“When this award was announced, I saw a complete shift in their behaviour,” he told The Tribune. The very people who used to ask, ‘What is your father doing?’ were now proud of him, he added.Even Punjab’s Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria hailed the Padma honour as recognition of an extraordinary citizen. “Inderjit Sidhu has shown that service to society does not end with retirement or age,” Kataria remarked. “Such individuals strengthen the moral fabric of our society, he added.Yet, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Sidhu’s story is how little the recognition has altered him. Those familiar with his daily routine say the Padma Shri has changed neither his humility nor his habit of collecting garbage from Chandigarh’s streets. For him, they said the award is less a culmination, than an acknowledgement of an idea he has practised for decades: that citizenship is not a passive entitlement, but an active responsibility.The Padma Shri will, no doubt, place a national spotlight on Sidhu’s lifetime of quiet service, but those familiar with his journey are convinced the honour will not alter the rhythm of his mornings. They firmly believe that after returning from Rashtrapati Bhavan next week, he will resume the routine that defined him for nearly three decades: walking the streets of Sector 49, broom in hand and cart in tow, unmindful of the recognition that has come his way.Sidhu’s uniform may be long gone, and the brass on his shoulders faded into memory, but the instinct that guided this senior police officer through a lifetime of service still lives on in the elderly citizen walking Chandigarh’s streets each morning.His beat has changed, but his mission remains the same – to preserve and improve his surroundings.