Environmental activist Bittu Tabahi placed dustbins along the Ajnar River to prevent dumping, but one was stolen. He shared the setback on Instagram.
After cleaning Madhya Pradesh's Ajnar River for a second time, 20-year-old environmental activist Surendra Singh Choudhary, popularly known as Bittu Tabahi, placed dustbins along its banks to prevent people from dumping waste into the water. But one of the bins has now been stolen, leaving him disheartened.
Bittu shared a video on Instagram on Friday showing the state of the Ajnar River in Rajgarh district. Despite his months-long cleanup efforts, plastic bags and other waste have begun accumulating along the riverbanks again.
In an attempt to prevent people from dumping rubbish directly into the river, Bittu had placed two dustbins near a tree along the riverbank. However, when he returned, only one of the bins remained. The other had been stolen.
"I had placed these dustbins here not for my personal use, but to give people something to dispose of waste in properly so the river doesn't get polluted again," he said in the video.
The setback comes just days after Bittu shared another video on Tuesday expressing his disappointment at seeing the river polluted again after months of hard work. He had since returned to the stretch to begin cleaning it once more.
Sharing the latest update, he wrote in the caption, "The drums kept for the convenience of the public were also stolen."
The incident received frustrated reactions from social media users. One argued that some people did not deserve the good things created for their benefit. Another called for fines against those responsible for littering.
A third urged Bittu to involve the police and arrange for security, warning that without measures to protect the site, his efforts could once again go to waste.
