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Priest’s Decade-Long Campaign Helps Revive Five Jodhpur Ponds
Jeevraj Shrimali saw people throwing religious items and other rubbish into a pond in Jodhpur.
He started teaching visitors to put waste in separate bins instead.
He also worked with city officials on clean-up drives.
Cameras helped identify people who dumped rubbish.
Flowers, cloth and plastic could then be handled, reused or recycled.
Shrimali and other residents also asked the court to help protect the pond.
Special tanks were made so people could immerse idols without polluting the ponds.
Over about ten years, his campaign expanded from one pond to five.
Jeevraj Shrimali began cleaning Jodhpur’s Guruo Ka Talab after religious waste turned it into a dumping ground by 2016.
He promoted waste segregation, recycling, awareness and municipal clean-up drives to keep flowers, idols, plastic and other materials out of the pond.
Shrimali and residents filed a Rajasthan High Court petition in 2018 concerning idol immersion and other pollution sources.
Separate immersion tanks were created beside the ponds, while CCTV cameras and public conversations were used to discourage dumping.
More than five tonnes of waste and over 350 trees are reportedly linked to work across five ponds, though the figures have not been independently audited.
- Who
- Priest Jeevraj Shrimali, other Jodhpur residents, the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation and the Rajasthan High Court were involved.
- What
- A decade-long campaign combined pond clean-ups, waste segregation, recycling, public awareness and legal action to protect five neglected ponds.
- Where
- The work took place at five ponds in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, beginning with Guruo Ka Talab.
- When
- The campaign began around 2016; a court petition was filed in 2018, and another petition followed in 2023.
- Why
- The ponds were being polluted by discarded religious materials, plastic, washing, bathing, drainage and other waste.
Key facts
- Campaign duration
- About 10 years
- Ponds involved
- Five neglected ponds in Jodhpur
- Reported waste removed
- More than five tonnes; not independently audited
- Reported trees planted
- More than 350; not independently audited
- First court petition
- Filed in 2018 by Shrimali and other residents
- Court outcome
- The Rajasthan High Court disposed of the case in May 2019 after municipal measures were submitted
- Recognition
- Shrimali received the Veer Durgadas Rathore Samman in August 2026, according to the article
Sources
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