Durga Shakti Nagpal

Her grandfather was a police officer who was murdered in 1954 while on duty in Sadar Bazaar, Delhi.

Durga Shakti Nagpal (born 25 June 1985) is an Indian bureaucrat and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and 2010 batch.

She came into public view after launching a massive drive against corruption and illegal sand mining within her jurisdiction of Gautam Budh Nagar as Joint Magistrate.

Durga Nagpal was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on 25 June 1985.

Her father is a retired government officer who was awarded the President's Medal for distinguished service at the Delhi Cantonment Board.

Under her leadership, the administration confiscated 24 dumper trucks and 300 trolleys used in illegal operations, and arrested 15 people who were fined inr 20000000.

Most of the sand-mining activity in the NCR region, comprising Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Faridabad (Haryana) and Delhi, is illegal as no environment impact assessment (EIA) has been carried out, and it is estimated that about 250 to 350 truckloads of sand is illegally dredged every day.

The cost of this sand varies from inr 1000000000 per month to inr 5000000000 per annum.

According to environmentalists and engineers, the massive amount of mining is responsible for soil-erosion and changing the natural flow of the Hindon and Yamuna, which shifted its course by about 500 metres toward east and posed a threat to flood embankments in six sectors of Noida.

A "Special Mining Squad" was established by the Noida district administration to curb sand mining and was expected to succeed, but high demand of sand for increased construction activity, police inaction and the political nexus with the "sand mafia" has ensured that various rules to safeguard the environment are regularly flouted.

After receiving many complaints of dredging in the Yamuna and Hindon rivers banks, the UP Chief Minister's office in Lucknow asked the GB Nagar district administration to prevent further illegal activity.

Nagpal, as the SDM, oversaw a large operation to stop illegal sand mining in the district, and used surprise and secrecy to arrest illegal miners and to confiscate their machinery.

She graduated from the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University in 2007 with an undergraduate degree in computer engineering.

She obtained an All India Rank of 20 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 2009, after which she joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

In her first attempt to pass the civil service exam, she was accepted into the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), but chose to take the UPSC exam another time.

She met Singh while preparing for the UPSC examinations in 2009.

Abhishek Singh is also an actor and has worked in movies.

The Government of UP led by Yogi Adityanath suspended Mr. Singh since 7 February 2023 following his absence for 82 days from office without any information.

Later, he resigned from the office.

Nagpal began her career in the Punjab cadre of the IAS.

She is married to Abhishek Singh, who is an IAS officer of 2011 batch.

She joined the Mohali district administration in June 2011, and served there for fourteen months.

As a trainee IAS officer in Punjab, she exposed a land scam in Mohali.

In August 2012, she moved to the Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Noida, after marrying Abhishek Singh.

She was later appointed as the Joint Magistrate in Gautam Budh Nagar.

She came into public notice after acting against the "sand mafia" in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh by forming special investigation teams to stop the illegal sand-mining in the Yamuna and Hindon river banks.

In July 2013, she was suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav led Government of UP for allegedly demolishing an illegal mosque wall in Kadalpur village near Jewar, which resulted in severe opposition as it was perceived to be based on flimsy grounds.

There was a growing demand from various political parties, associations of Indian bureaucrats, and by the general public on online social media for her suspension to be revoked.

Her suspension was revoked by the Government of UP on 26 September 2013 and she was transferred to Kanpur Dehat.

On 23 July 2013, Nagpal had said that she would take strict action against dredgers engaged in illegal mining, adding that such activity could affect the environment adversely.

Since April 2013, the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed 17 FIRs and the Chief Judicial magistrate had ordered the arrest of illegal sand miners in 22 cases.

From April to June 2013, the police had impounded 297 vehicles and machinery used for illegal mining and collected Rs 8,234,000 in fines.

Under Nagpal, a joint operation involving the revenue, police and transport departments was launched and villages of Asgarpur, Nangla Wajidpur, Gulavli, Kambakshpur, Jaganpur Chaproli were monitored.

On 25 July, the government transferred the mining officer of the GB Nagar district Ashish Kumar, who was assisting Nagpal, to Bulandshahr.

Before being transferred, Kumar survived three attempts on his life, the last one was on 9 February 2013.

Nagpal was also targeted on 26 April 2013, during a visit to the Kasna police station.

These attacks were attributed to the "sand mafia" operating in the district.

On the night of 29 July 2013, the Gautam Buddha Nagar police arrested 15 persons and confiscated 26 vehicles in the district and registered seven cases, some of which were in Dankaur and Greater Noida areas.

Durga Nagpal was appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh on 14 January 2015.

On 31 March 2023, she got her first posting as District Collector and District Magistrate (DM) of Banda in UP.