Priest revives Jodhpur ponds after puja waste caused pollution
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Jeevraj Shrimali of Jodhpur, India, began cleaning Guruo Ka Talab pond in 2016 after noticing the amount of waste discarded into it.
The pond had become a dumping ground for flowers, idols, plastic and other materials. Shrimali started by speaking with people about responsible waste disposal and working with the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation to introduce separate bins for different types of waste. He also installed CCTV cameras and asked people caught dumping waste to clean it up.
Recognizing that clean-up alone wasn’t enough, Shrimali and other residents filed a public interest litigation in 2018, seeking court protection for the pond and restrictions on polluting activities like idol immersion and washing clothes in the water. The court directed the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation to clean the pond and prevent future pollution, which they reported completing in 2019.
Over ten years, Shrimali expanded his efforts to five neglected ponds in Jodhpur, combining clean-ups with waste segregation, recycling initiatives, and community awareness programs. He also filed a further petition in 2023 regarding illegal construction and drainage issues affecting the ponds. Through this work, he and the community created separate tanks for idol immersion, preventing waste from entering the ponds directly, and have reportedly removed more than five tonnes of waste and planted over 350 trees.
