During the professional visits to the mines located in rural areas of Bhilwara District of Rajasthan he was surprised to find that greenery is vanishing from the landscape though it was located in the basin and the catchment area of Kothari River.A little enquiry revealed the startling fact that the river flows hardly for 5 to 6 days which used to flow for 5 to 6 months in the past. And this is the reason of quick disappearance of greenery.This painful discovery filled Mahesh Navhal’s heart with sorrow as he was an ardent lover of nature. And at that moment he decided to do something better for these villages. But what can be done? It was a big question. And the search of answer for this question resulted in the foundation of River Rejuvenation Mission.
After a long contemplation a decision was made to hold conversations with students and 5000 students of 31 secondary schools of Raipur Tehsil took part in these conversations. The main objective of these conversations was to create an idea in their mind that “This is my village and I have to make it green.” Each student was made to adopt one sapling so the love for trees can be evolved in them. It was necessary because if there are trees there will be rain, if there is rain the rivers will have water and our tomorrows depend on this river water. The success of this mission encouraged Mahesh Navhal to found Jaldhara Vikas Sansthan and like an ardent lover of environment he devoted himself to work for the betterment of environment.
He toured and surveyed many times to the entire course of the Kothari River which passes through Raipur, Mandal and Bhilwara Tehsil and found that this river originates from Diver in Rajsamand District and works as a lifeline for two districts, 10 Tehsils, 101 Village Panchyats and 441 villages. It flows through its basin for 145 km and merges in the Banas River near Nandrai. The frequent visits to the Kothari River’s catchment area revealed that the lush
greenery has been disappeared not only from its origin place but also from its catchment area also. Therefore dense afforestation, comprehensive environment awareness and development of bio diversity are highly needed in its catchment area in order to rejuvenate the river.
Meetings were held in villages and environment awareness talks were organised in the schools of Rajasamand and Bhilwara District during year 2013-14. For the representatives of rural areas like Pradhans, Sarpanchs, Panchs etc. workshops were organaised at Tiker and Diver and 10400 villagers were prepared to adopt trees with a commitment to raise and protect them. As the mission was making progress it increased the enthusiasm of the members of Jaladhara Vikas Sansthan. The mission of the adoption of trees was progressing by leaps and bounds. A great number of trees were being planted every day. Villagers adopted 10400 trees in 2013-14, 12600 trees in 2014-15 and 16300 trees in 2015-16 of different varieties.
Our mission is not limited to only tree plantation. Our mission has manifold objectives such as creating environment awareness in people, connecting each person and student to this mission so that they can be affectionate towards environment, water conservator and companion of trees. To fulfill these objectives meetings were held in villages at 8.00pm regularly. Before the meeting door to door contact was made to persuade villagers to attend the meetings. It resulted in unprecedented support of villagers for these meetings. Apart from this students of different schools were also addressed in their local language to inspire them to make Tree Companion Groups.
Apno Gaunv samiti (Our Village Committee) were constituted to protect environment and nature. It changed the mindset of villagers. In the year 2012-13; 32 Gram sabha and students meetings were held. In 2013-14 the number of such meetings rose to 46, in 2014-15 it became 62 and in 2015-16 it was 100.The teachers were asked to act as messengers of environment during the seminars held at different times in their region. In this way the call reached up to 2500 teachers. The issue of tree plantation was raised again and again with Sarpanchs of districts and representatives in order to arouse caring nature in them about environment,afforestation, water conservation and rural development. In this way the mission was taken to masses.
The Jaldhara Vikas Snasthan has been encouraged by government from time to time. The Sansthan has been conferred with many awards and rewards for its cause such as district level award in 26 January 2015, Van Prasarak Puruskar by Forest Department and Amrita Devi Vishnoi Award 2015 ( A well known award of Rajasthan State).The head of Sansthan; Sh.Mahesh Navhal is a well known member of District Environment Committee, Register Development Committee of Government Girls College Bhilwara, Mahavir International and also a trainer of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
Working for the environment the Sansthan has also organized the Bird Festival at Chhavandiya and Gurla Village in 2017 & 18 under the supervision of District administration. The success of this festival established Chhavandiya on the world bird tourism map and at the same time 6th place in Rajasthan declared by e bird website.
