A 20-year-old BSc student from Madhya Pradesh , Surendra Singh Choudhary, popularly known as ‘ Bittu Tabahi ’, has drawn attention for taking on the task of cleaning the polluted Ajnar River in Biaora on his own and succeeding. His efforts have now reached audiences outside India after a Netherlands -based organisation gave him an offer to work with them.
Choudhary had initially considered building a machine to remove the waste, but did not have enough money. The Biaora municipal corporation later joined the effort, using JCB and Poclain machines to remove large amounts of waste and polythene from the river. Through his Instagram posts, Choudhary has also spoken about those who questioned whether one person could make a difference. His river-cleaning campaign has also caught the attention of people abroad. Boyan Slat, the founder and CEO of Netherlands-based non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, offered Choudhary a job after seeing a post about his work.
Digital content creator KR Talks said Choudhary has spent about ₹ 30,000 on the effort so far, HT reported earlier . “Then, when January 26 arrived, I thought it was a good day to do something meaningful…
He is said to have started the drive in January and has since cleaned and improved several parts of the river. Since then, I haven’t stopped and have kept at it continuously,” he told news agency ANI, adding, “I started alone; they (municipal corporation) saw what I was doing and then offered their support. He now says the work he has done shows what can be achieved when an individual decides to take action.
Choudhary first came into the spotlight after posting before-and-after images and videos of the river online. Choudhary hails from Biaora in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district. He has been recording his cleanup work and sharing it through multiple Instagram videos. The footage shows him clearing plastic, algae, and other waste that had built up in the river, often without assistance.
He started the cleanup on January 26, Republic Day, and worked by himself until the local municipal corporation noticed his efforts and stepped in to help. An X user posted before-and-after images of the river and wrote, “A 20-year-old Indian man, Surendra Singh Choudhry, known as ‘Bittu Tabahi,’ has been cleaning the heavily polluted Ajnar River himself for months. Earlier reporting noted: Bittu Tabahi says people are littering less after he went viral: ‘Thoda antar aaya hai’ Surendra Singh Choudhary, known online as Bittu Tabahi , has been cleaning ghats along the polluted Ajnar River in Madhya Pradesh since January 2026. The 21-year-old college student has been doing the work single-handedly, long before his cleaning videos started gaining attention online.
Earlier reporting noted: (Also Read: Bittu Tabahi who single-handedly cleaned trash-filled river gets job offer from Dutch CEO: ‘Come work for us’ )
Slat responded to the post with a short message: “Come work for us.”
