20-Year-Old BSc Student Bittu Tabahi Takes on Polluted Ajnaar River, Cleans It With His Own Money

20-Year-Old BSc Student Bittu Tabahi Takes on Polluted Ajnaar River, Cleans It With His Own Mone

Let us introduce you to Bittu Tabahi, a 20-year-old BSc student from Biaora in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district. But Bittu isn’t just any other student. He’s on a mission to clean up the severely polluted Ajnaar River and he’s using his own money!

A man single-handedly cleans an entire river in his village.

A 20-year-old student in India is going viral for cleaning a polluted river by himself. Bittu Tabahi has removed plastic and trash from the water, spending his own money on supplies despite getting infections on his… pic.twitter.com/YIiYMOVj7z

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 3, 2026

It all started on January 26, 2026, right near a temple in Biaora. The Ajnaar had turned into a complete mess, overflowing with plastic, ritual offerings, and other trash. It looked more like a muddy drain in some parts.

Rather than wait for a government campaign or a big NGO, Bittu took matters into his own hands. He began cleaning the river himself and soon, a few friends pitched in too. Bittu has already spent around Rs 30,000 of his own money on things like cleaning equipment and dustbins! He says that it took him over three months to clear a few stretches of the river.

And guess what?

Bittu doesn’t even know how to swim! Yes, you read that right!

Despite that, he waded into the contaminated water to clear out the trash.

He even faced a nasty hand infection early on when he didn’t use protective gear.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone supported Bittu. Some folks were outright disrespectful, suggesting he was simply staging the clean-up to gain attention and make videos. But Bittu stayed focused, continued documenting his work, and gradually the positive changes to parts of the river won over people’s support.

He’s even trying to turn the offerings he rescued from the river into compost. His mission now isn’t just to clean up the Ajnaar River but to ensure no one ever throws garbage back in.

His work is gaining a lot of attention on social media, and Bittu has even pointed to a earlier mention of his work by industrialist Anand Mahindra! We are seriously impressed!