Environmentalist and Chipko movement pioneer Sunderlal Bahuguna died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Friday after battling COVID-19 for several days. He was 94.
He breathed his last at 12.05 pm, AIIMS Director Ravikant said. Bahuguna, one of India’s best known environmentalists, was admitted to the hospital on May 8 after testing positive for Covid-19.
He had been critical since last night with his oxygen level dropping drastically, and was on CPAP therapy in the ICU of the premier hospital.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the passing away of noted environmentalist, Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna.
In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, “Passing away of Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna Ji is a monumental loss for our nation. He manifested our centuries old ethos of living in harmony with nature. His simplicity and spirit of compassion will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with his family and many admirers. Om Shanti.”
He started social activities at the age of thirteen, under the guidance of Shri Dev Suman, who was a nationalist spreading message of non-violence and he was with the Congress party of Uttar Pradesh (India) at the time of Independence. Bahuguna also mobilised people against colonial rule before 1947.He adopted Gandhian principles in his life and married his wife Vimla with the condition that they would live among rural people and establish ashram in village. Inspired by Gandhi, he walked through Himalayan forests and hills, covering more than 4,700 kilometres on foot and observed the damage done by mega developmental projects on the fragile eco-system of the Himalayas and subsequent degradation of social life in villages.
Chipko movement was started on 26 March 1974 spontaneously in Uttar Pradesh, in an effort to save areas of trees and forests from cutting by forest contractors. In Hindi, “Chipko” literally means “hug” and people started hugging and holding onto trees when it was being cut. One of Sunderlal Bahuguna’s notable contributions to the Chipko movement, and to environmentalism in general, was his creation of the Chipko’s slogan “Ecology is permanent economy.” Sunderlal Bahuguna helped bring the movement to prominence through about 5,000-kilometer trans-Himalaya march undertaken from 1981 to 1983, travelling from village to village, gathering support for the movement. He had an appointment with the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and that meeting is credited with resulting in Mrs. Gandhi’s subsequent 15-year ban on cutting of green trees in 1980. He was also closely associated with Gaura Devi, one of the pioneers of the movement.
