A 20-year-old man, Surendra Singh Choudhary, popularly known as Bittu Tabahi, who stunned social media after a video of him cleaning the trash-filled Ajnar River went viral, received a job offer from Boyan Slat, the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, a Netherlands-based NGO that develops and scales solutions to rid the oceans of plastic.
What did the CEO say?
Slat reacted to a tweet by an X user who 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.” Alongside this, the individual shared a picture showing the river before and after it was cleaned.
The Dutch innovator reacted to the post and wrote, “Come work for us.”
How did social media react?
The response prompted several remarks. An individual wrote, “Wow, this is huge for the boy. Hope you’re serious about this! Go get him.” Another added, “Holy opportunity of a lifetime, extremely lucky, and I’m so jealous.”
A third posted, “Just the person I was hoping to make him an offer.” A fourth shared, “That is your man.”
Who is Bittu Tabahi?
{{/usCountry}}A third posted, “Just the person I was hoping to make him an offer.” A fourth shared, “That is your man.”
Who is Bittu Tabahi?
{{/usCountry}}Singh, famous as Bittu Tabahi, hails from Biaora in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district. In several videos shared on his Instagram page, he is seen removing plastic waste, algae and accumulated debris from the river all by himself.
He reportedly began his mission in January this year and completely transformed the river, making it trash-free. According to a digital content creator who goes by KR Talks, Singh has spent ₹30,000 on the cleanup project so far.
Earlier in March, his efforts were praised by industrialist Anand Mahindra. Sharing a tweet, the industrialist wrote, “This young man from Biaora, M.P, was criticised for claiming to have cleaned parts of a river just in order to gain social media views. Well, we usually complain that social media rewards the trivial rather than the meaningful. So if a desire for ‘likes’ can become a force for good that’s fine with me. Bittu Tabahi from Biaora is my #MondayMotivation.”
Who is Boyan Slat?
According to the official website of the Ocean Cleanup, “Boyan Slat (27 July 1994) is a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur, passionate about creating megaprojects to address planetary problems.”
His organisation aims to put itself out of business by removing 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040.