Bittu Tabahi Asks India To Choose His Next State For Cleanup

After spending months cleaning the polluted Ajnar River in Madhya Pradesh, 21-year-old Surendra Singh Choudhary is looking beyond his hometown. The volunteer, known online as Bittu Tabahi, has asked people to suggest which state he should visit next.

Bittu Tabahi started with a polluted river in Madhya Pradesh. Now he wants people across India to decide where his cleanup mission should go next.

Surendra Singh Choudhary, a BSc student from Biaora in Rajgarh district, has asked his social-media followers to name the first state he should visit as he looks to take his environmental campaign beyond Madhya Pradesh. His appeal comes after his work on the Ajnar River attracted national attention and caught the eye of Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of Netherlands-based environmental organisation The Ocean Cleanup.

The unusual part of Choudhary's latest post is that he is not announcing his next destination himself. Instead, he is asking the audience watching his work to choose it.

How The Ajnar River Became His Mission

Choudhary began cleaning the Ajnar River in Biaora on January 26, 2026. The stretch he tackled had accumulated plastic, algae, sludge and other waste, particularly near a local temple.

What began with a few friends eventually became largely a solo effort. He used basic equipment and his own resources to remove waste from the river, and videos and photographs of the cleanup were later shared widely online.

The work was not without difficulties. NDTV reported that he faced health problems during the cleanup, including limb infections, skin irritation and encounters with snakes. The local municipality has since supported the effort by providing machinery to help remove accumulated waste.

His work also brought attention from outside Biaora. Anand Mahindra had earlier praised his efforts, while Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also met Choudhary and praised the initiative.

Then Came An Unexpected Invitation From The Netherlands

The biggest twist came on September 4.

Boyan Slat, the Dutch environmentalist who founded The Ocean Cleanup, responded on X to a post showing Choudhary's river-cleaning work and before-and-after images.

His message was brief: “Come work for us.”

The response put the young environmental volunteer's work on an international stage. Choudhary subsequently shared an interaction with The Ocean Cleanup, adding another chapter to a campaign that had started locally.

The job invitation itself is confirmed as a public message from Slat. Whether Choudhary will ultimately accept it has not been established in the available reporting.

For now, his attention appears to be back on India.

One Question: Which State Comes First?

In his latest appeal, Choudhary asked viewers which state he should come to first. The post attracted millions of views, according to NDTV, with users also suggesting possible destinations.

There is no confirmed itinerary yet, so his next destination remains undecided.

That makes the latest stage of the Bittu Tabahi story notably different from where it began. A local effort to remove waste from one polluted river has grown into a social-media campaign with attention from Indian public figures and an international environmental organisation.

Now, instead of asking whether one young volunteer can make a difference in his hometown, the question is where he should take the effort next.