Bittu Tabahi says people are littering less after he went viral: ‘Thoda antar aaya hai'

Bittu Tabahi started cleaning the polluted Ajnar River after seeing garbage around the waterway where he grew up.

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.

Bittu Tabahi cleans garbage from a river ghat. (Instagram/@bittu_tabahi)

Bittu told HindustanTimes.com during a phone conversation that he took up the effort after repeatedly seeing garbage around the river where he grew up. With his cleaning videos now reaching a wider audience, he says he has noticed a small but significant change around him.

Why did Bittu Tabahi start cleaning the river?

Bittu said he grew up around the river and often visited the area behind a temple, where he would see garbage lying around.

“I grew up here, so I used to see the river. I used to go behind the temple and see the dirt, so it didn’t look good,” he said.

That eventually led him to start cleaning the area himself. He began the mission on January 26, 2026, and has since worked on three ghats.

The amount of time required varied from one ghat to another. Bittu said the first took around two to three months, while the other two also took considerable time. He would usually spend three to four hours a day cleaning and sometimes stayed longer during the colder months.

Bittu Tabahi’s viral river cleanup effort.

He started without equipment

When Bittu first began, he did not have the tools needed for the work. He gradually spent his own money to buy equipment and continued with the cleaning.

The work was not always easy. Bittu recalled seeing snakes near the trees while cleaning and said the dirty water also affected his health.

“The water was so dirty that I used to get sick many times. I had an infection and I still have it,” he said.

His family was also unaware of what he was doing initially. Bittu said he would tell them he was going out to play cricket, while he would actually go to the river.

What changed after his videos started trending?

Speaking to HindustanTimes.com, Bittu said he has noticed some changes since his cleaning work started getting attention online.

“Thoda antar aaya,” he said, pointing to a change in people’s behaviour around the river and nearby areas. “Gali mein kachra nahi fenk rahe.”

He added that some people still throw garbage into the river, while others have stopped doing so. “Nadi mein kuch log fenk dete hain, kuch log nahi fenkte. Samajhdar log nahi fenkte,” he said.

The increased attention has also brought some practical support. Bittu said the government helped provide him with cleaning tools, something he had earlier been managing largely on his own.

For Bittu, however, the attention has not changed the work itself. He said he plans to continue cleaning and take up more such efforts in the future.

“Kaam toh kaam hai, aage abh aur kuch karenge.”