Dr Lal Singh, Principal Scientist and Project Leader at CSIR-NEERI, converted fly ash-laden land near Maharashtra's Nagpur into farming land. "I worked on 10-hectare wasteland, in two years it was rejuvenated and in four years it was ready for crop cultivation," he said. Fly-ash consists of silica, so the team cultivated bamboo (which attracts silica) making sure crops remain unaffected.