River Cleaner ‘Disappointed’ Over Ajnar Filled With Garbage Again
“I am disappointed to see Ajnar filled with rubbish and waste materials again": Bittu Tabahi
BHOPAL: Twenty-one-year-old Surendra Singh Chaudhari alias Bittu Tabahi who shot to fame on social media for manually clearing tons of debris from the Ajnar River in Biaora in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district was disheartened after finding the waterway reaccumulating the trash within just 30 days.
Bittu Tabahi, who had spent eight months cleaning the river, had subsequently taken up the task of removing the rubbish from Yamuna in Delhi.
He returned to Biaora from his ‘Yamuna cleaning mission’ after 30 days to find Ajnar, a dump yard of garbage again.
“I am disappointed to see Ajnar filled with rubbish and waste materials again. My eight-month-long hard work to clean the river has gone down the drain. People lack civic sense and pollute the water body by dumping waste materials”, he rued.
The youth however said that he would not give up and armed himself again with hand gloves and equipment to cleanse the river of wastes.
The youth, a science graduate, had caught the attention of Industrialist Anand Mahindra and environmentalist Boyan Slat on social media for manually clearing the Ajnar river of trash including toxic materials singlehandedly.
He suffered from skin disease during the period.
Slat, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Netherland-based non-profit organization, The Ocean Cleanup, had even offered him a job after watching a post showing him cleansing the river on social media.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav had also honoured him for his noble work.
The Ajnar River originates near Andalheda village in the district and flows through Biaora.
Small forest-area streams and seasonal tributaries across its 52 km length feed into the river before it enters neighbouring Rajasthan to join the Kalisindh River.
Unfortunately, parts of its current flow are fed by untreated waste water with drainage pipes directly emptying into it, and industrial discharge from surrounding manufacturing units flowing into it.