Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Eight months of hard work, tonnes of garbage removed, and a river cleaned, only for the rubbish to return within weeks. Surendra Singh Choudhary, popularly known as Bittu Tabahi, was left disheartened after finding Madhya Pradesh’s Ajnar River littered with plastic bags and other waste again.
The 20-year-old shared a video on Instagram on Tuesday showing garbage that had accumulated along the riverbanks in Rajgarh district, despite his months-long effort to clean the stretch.
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The sight was a setback for the man who had spent eight months removing tonnes of waste from the river, working alone and without specialised equipment.
“I never imagined that eight months of my hard work would go to waste like this,” he wrote in the caption.
But the sight of the garbage did not stop him from returning to the river. In the video, Bittu said he had started cleaning the Ajnar River again, even though he did not know how to swim. The clip showed him entering the water and pulling out bags of waste, one after another, as he tried to clear the stretch once more.
He also turned to his followers for help, asking them to suggest ways to remove larger amounts of rubbish more efficiently. His appeal highlighted the difficulty of keeping a river clean when waste continues to be dumped into it after a cleanup.
Watch the video here:
Bittu’s video prompted social media users to express support for his efforts. Many encouraged him to continue the work, while others stressed that the responsibility for keeping rivers clean should not fall on one person alone.
His repeated attempts to clear the river also drew attention to the problem of waste returning when littering continues.
The Ajnar River is not the only place Bittu has worked to clean. Along with his team of 100 people, he cleaned the Turahalli Forest, located around 20 km from Bengaluru off Kanakapura Road as well.
His work has attracted attention from prominent figures too. Industrialist Anand Mahindra shared his river-cleaning efforts on X, giving the campaign another boost online. Bittu Tabahi’s efforts have earned him international attention and even a job offer from Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of Dutch environmental organisation The Ocean Cleanup.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
