Surendra Singh Choudhary, better known as Bittu Tabahi, spent eight months removing garbage from a polluted river in central India. His work attracted millions of social media followers and earned praise from prominent figures. But when he returned to the Ajnar River in October 2026, he found plastic bags, discarded clothes, and other waste scattered across the waterway again. Instead of giving up, he picked up his equipment and started the cleanup once more.

Bittu Tabahi Started by Cleaning a Pond Near His Home.

Choudhary is a college student from Biaora, a town in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district. He began his environmental work at a local pond near a temple. The pond became so dirty that people stopped visiting it.

He could not ignore its condition. He began cleaning it himself, sometimes leaving home around 6 a.m. and telling his family he was going to college. His parents didn’t initially know how much time he spent removing garbage.

In January 2026, he took on a bigger project. On Republic Day, January 26, he began cleaning the Ajnar River, which had accumulated plastic bottles, bags, discarded clothing, weeds, and sludge.

What started as a group effort with a few friends gradually became a solo undertaking. Choudhary used basic equipment and sometimes his bare hands to pull waste from the water. He reportedly spent around ₹30,000 of his own money on supplies, without formal support from the government or environmental organizations at the beginning.

He also recorded his work and posted videos on Instagram under the name Bittu Tabahi. The videos showed the river’s condition before and after the cleanup, making the scale of the work visible to people who had never visited the area.

The account eventually attracted around 1.9 million followers. In September, the local municipality provided machinery to support the cleanup.

His Cleanup Campaign Soon Expanded Beyond His Hometown.

As videos of the Yamuna River cleanup spread, Choudhary began taking his campaign elsewhere. His initiative, called #CleanWithBittu, brought together volunteers to remove garbage from polluted public spaces.

One of his major campaigns took place in Delhi in September 2026. On September 20, he and a team of volunteers spent four and a half hours cleaning a stretch of the Yamuna River. They collected approximately 585 kilograms of waste, including plastic and discarded religious offerings.

The following day, the campaign moved to Kherki Daula in Gurugram, where the team removed approximately 2,435 kilograms of waste, according to figures shared by Choudhary. The garbage-covered stretch included plastic that could be eaten by stray cattle.

The three-day campaign also included a cleanup at Yuva Shakti Ghat in Noida. Residents joined the volunteers during the drives, helping remove waste from the riverbanks and surrounding areas.

His work also attracted international attention. Boyan Slat, founder of the Netherlands-based environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup, publicly invited Choudhary to work with the organization. The invitation brought further attention to the young activist’s efforts, although a public invitation does not itself confirm that he joined the organization.

Choudhary also took his campaign to Mumbai, where reports said his team and local residents collected 256 kilograms of garbage from beaches. These projects marked a shift from a largely individual effort in a small Indian town to a campaign involving volunteers in several cities.

Weeks Later, Bittu Found the Ajnar River Polluted Again.

In October, Choudhary returned to the Ajnar River and found garbage accumulating along its banks again. A video he shared showed plastic waste, discarded clothes, and flower offerings in and around the water. The river’s condition sharply contrasted with the cleaner appearance in his earlier videos.

He expressed disappointment, saying he had not expected eight months of work to be undone so quickly. However, he did not abandon the project. He resumed removing the waste and asked his followers for suggestions on how to clean the river more effectively.

The latest setback highlights a problem that extends beyond this one river. Removing accumulated garbage does not prevent people from dumping more waste later. Without reliable waste collection and measures to discourage dumping, even a major cleanup can have only temporary results.