New Delhi: Bittu Tabahi is a 20-year-old boy from Biaora, Madhya Pradesh, who has cleaned a heavily polluted Ajnar River alone. He became an overnight sensation as his video went viral on social media.

The young kid started his cleaning journey with a few friends on January 26 but soon found himself alone. He didn’t lose hope and, single-handedly, with his basic tools and sheer determination, cleaned the polluted water. He pulled out plastic bags, algae and debris from the river.

The journey wasn’t easy, and the criticism that followed didn’t do justice to the boy’s efforts. He was being criticised that he didn’t clean the river, just parts of it, to gain views on social media.

Despite criticism, he continued his efforts to restore the waterbody’s natural beauty and kept updating the process through his Instagram handle, @bittu_tabahi. With his efforts, the river is now fully clean with clear improvement and reduced pollution. He started on Republic Day and is still at it.

 

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A post shared by Bittu Tãbãhi (@bittu_tabahi)

Receives praise from Anand Mahindra

But his remarkable efforts didn’t go in vain as he earned the praise from industrialist Anand Mahindra, who called him his “Monday Motivation”.

Mahindra shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) in praised of the young man. He 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.” He added, “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.”

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… pic.twitter.com/ARgEhphuQN

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 30, 2026

Social Media reaction

The post, which included before and after visuals of the river, went viral with over 204,200 views and nearly 10k likes. The internet praised the young man with many hailing him as a “real hero” and a true inspiration.

His comments section is full of appreciation, and many users have called out the one criticising the young guy. Why don’t more of us join such causes in our own cities?