BHOPAL: After spending eight months cleaning the Ajnar River in Madhya Pradesh, environmental activist and content creator Bittu Tabahi has returned to find garbage dumped along its banks again.In an Instagram video, Bittu expressed disappointment over the river’s condition and showed himself removing waste once more, prompting social media users to question the lack of civic sense and praise his continued efforts.“I never imagined that eight months of my hard work would go to waste like this,” Bittu wrote as the caption of the video shared on Instagram.
Bittu Tabahi returns to clean Ajnar River
Bittu explained that he carries his own equipment and wears gloves before beginning the cleanup to protect himself. He said he first removes garbage from the riverbank and then steps into the water to retrieve waste, despite not knowing how to swim.
‘You’re a hero’: Social media users react to Bittu’s video
The video drew reactions from users who expressed disappointment over the river becoming polluted again despite months of work. One user wrote, “So sad… But you’re a hero, man. More power to you!”Another commented, “People of India don’t deserve clean environments. Civic sense is crime here”.Bittu has also asked social media users for suggestions on how the waste could be removed more effectively, while continuing to document his cleanup efforts.
Bittu Tabahi’s cleanup drive
Bittu, whose real name is Surendra Singh Choudhry, has undertaken cleanup drives at several locations. In September, he and his team collected 585kg of waste from a stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi before moving to Gurugram’s Khedki Daula, where they removed 2,435kg of waste.The drive was part of a three-city cleanup campaign that also included Noida.His work on the Ajnar River had earlier drawn attention for the scale of the cleanup and his efforts to remove garbage without sophisticated equipment.The latest video highlights the challenge of sustaining such efforts when waste continues to accumulate at previously cleaned sites.