An IAS officer brought down Lucknow's garbage mountains. He's 'kalyug ka Hanuman'

IAS officer Inderjit Singh, while serving as Lucknow’s municipal commissioner, spearheaded a remarkable transformation—turning two “garbage mountains” into a model of urban renewal. The massive dumps at Ghaila (spanning 72 acres) and Shivri (12 m high, 50 acres) were cleared using innovative waste-processing methods: Ghaila was converted into the Rashtriya Prerna Sthal, a 72-acre green park planted with a lakh trees, and Shivri evolved into a state-of-the-art waste processing plant enabling Lucknow to become a “zero net waste” city. In just three years, Singh’s team processed over 18‑26 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste, integrated recycling, composting, and bioremediation systems, and deployed electric vehicles, CCTV monitoring, and citizen engagement campaigns. The city leapt 41 positions in the Swachh Survekshan 2024–25, ranking third cleanest in India. Locals laud Singh as “kalyug ka Hanuman” for lifting monumental waste challenges and ushering in sustainable urban metamorphosis.