New Delhi: Environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, who was best known as the leader of the Chipko Movement, died due to Covid-19 Friday. Bahuguna was 94 years old and was being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Rishikesh.
The AIIMS Rishikesh administration announced his passing after noon Friday.
Chipko movement leader Sundarlal Bahuguna died of COVID19 at AIIMS, Rishikesh today, says AIIMS Rishikesh Administration
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/6QQGf0vYm5
— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2021
Bahuguna was admitted to the hospital on 8 May after he tested positive for Covid. His condition became critical Thursday night, as his oxygen levels began to drop drastically. He was on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) therapy in the hospital’s ICU.
Condoling the environmentalist’s demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and said Bahuguna “manifested our centuries old ethos of living in harmony with nature”.
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.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2021
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat also expressed grief and said Bahuguna’s passing was not just a loss for the state but for the entire country as well.
चिपको आंदोलन के प्रणेता, विश्व में वृक्षमित्र के नाम से प्रसिद्ध महान पर्यावरणविद् पद्म विभूषण श्री सुंदरलाल बहुगुणा जी के निधन का अत्यंत पीड़ादायक समाचार मिला। यह खबर सुनकर मन बेहद व्यथित हैं। यह सिर्फ उत्तराखंड के लिए नहीं बल्कि संपूर्ण देश के लिए अपूरणीय क्षति है। pic.twitter.com/j85HWCs80k
— Tirath Singh Rawat (@TIRATHSRAWAT) May 21, 2021
Several other leaders and prominent personalities also mourned the loss of the environmentalist.
Learned with sadness that a good human being and great teacher, Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna passed away due to Covid-19.
I bow my head in homage. RIP!
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 21, 2021
Deepest condolences to the great environmentalist and pioneer of Chipko Movement Shri Sunderlal Bahuguna Ji. He will keep inspiring us with his ethos of living in harmony with nature. My thoughts are with his family members. Om Shanti.
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) May 21, 2021
Sunderlal Bahuguna was a person of extraordinary energy & intelligence, and a wonderful speaker too. I have vivid memories of my meetings and interviews with him. With Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi, Dhoom Singh Negi, & many others, he made the Chipko Andolan what it was. (1/2)
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) May 21, 2021
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The Gentle Warrior of the Himalayas
Born in 1927 near Tehri in what is now Uttarakhand, Bahuguna led a life of activism inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. Inspired by non-violence and satyagraha, he is credited for founding the Chipko Movement which spread across the Garhwal region, to protest against the felling of trees. People associated with the movement hugged the trees (hence chikpo in Hindi) to prevent them from being axed.
He saw himself “a guard of the ecology of the Himalayas”, and said that the well-being of the Himalayas was important not just for Uttarakhand but the rest of the country as well.
His commitment to the cause was such that in 1981 he refused to accept the Padma Shri since the felling of trees was rampant in the Himalayas. He also undertook a near-5000 km march across the Himalayas where he saw the pace of deforestation and devastation brought by developmental projects and submitted his findings in reports to the United Nations.
Besides the Chipko Movement, he was also a key figure in the protests against the Tehri Dam and even went to jail for it in 1995.
Age couldn’t dull his concerns either. As late as 2018, when Bahuguna was 91, he said in an interview to the Times of India that dams were paving the way for calamities and expressed concern that lakhs of trees will be cut down to make way for the Char Dham road and Pancheshwar dam.
Referred to as a ‘Gentle Warrior’, Bahuguna undertook many fasts to protest construction of dams and felling of trees.
In a letter to worried friends, he wrote, “Himalaya is a land of penance. Nothing in the world can be achieved without penance. I am doing this on behalf of all who are striving to save our dying planet. Why should a river, a mountain and forest or the ocean be killed, while we cling to life?”
Bahuguna was awarded India’s second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, in 2009.
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