Plastic bags, discarded flower garlands and other rubbish had once again collected in the water, prompting him to resume his clean-up efforts.Wearing protective gloves, he was pulling waste from the river when a man on the bridge above threw a bag of garbage towards the spot where he was working. The bag landed alarmingly close to Bittu as he continued removing rubbish from the water.
Reacting to the incident, Bittu expressed disbelief that someone would dump waste while he was actively cleaning the river. He also voiced his frustration over spending months trying to restore the water body, only to see people continue littering it.Watch the video here: The video drew strong reactions online, with viewers criticising the disregard for Bittu’s efforts and praising him for continuing his work despite such setbacks.His clean-up drive had previously attracted international attention, but the recurring waste highlights a problem that goes beyond the effort of one person.
Without a change in public behaviour, the river risks becoming polluted again even after painstaking clean-up work.Bittu’s work has also brought him recognition beyond India. Boyan Slat, founder of the Netherlands-based environmental organisation The Ocean Cleanup, offered him a job after learning about his efforts to clean the Ajnar River.The offer put Bittu’s grassroots work on an international platform, recognising the effort he had invested in tackling pollution at a local level.Yet the latest incident underlines the challenge he still faces at home.
Cleaning the river is one battle; preventing people from dumping waste back into it is another. And as Bittu’s video shows, the second may prove just as difficult as the first.- Ends