Environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna no more

 

RENOWNED environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna, who pioneered the Chipko movement, died of COVID-19 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh on Friday. He was 94.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Bahugubna was cremated with full State honours at the Poornanand Ghat on the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh.

Known for his pioneering role in the Chipko movement, during which the activists hugged trees to save them from being felled, Bahuguna had been undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at AIIMS-Rishikesh for over a week.

Admitted to the hospital on May 8 after testing positive for the infection, Bahuguna’s condition had turned critical last night with his oxygen level dropping drastically. He was on CPAP therapy in the ICU of the premier hospital and breathed his last at 12.05 pm, AIIMS Director Ravikant said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Bahuguna’s death. “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,” the Prime Minister tweeted. President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also condoled the demise of Bahuguna.

Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat described it as a big loss not just for Uttarakhand and India but for the entire world.

“It was he who made the Chipko movement a movement of the masses,” Rawat said.

Bahuguna’s body was brought to the ghat wrapped in the national flag and was given a guard of honour by the Uttarakhand police.

The funeral pyre was lit by his son Rajiv Nayan Bahuguna in the presence of his wife Vimla, daughter Madhu and other relatives. Born on January 9, 1927 in Tehri district, Bahuguna is considered the pioneer of the Chipko movement of the 1970s which he had launched along with dedicated environment conservationists like Gaura Devi to save forests.

Started by Bahuguna at the foothills of the Himalayas in 1973 in Uttarakhand, then a part of Uttar Pradesh, the Chipko movement was a forest conservation movement in India. It later became a rallying point for many environmental movements all over the world.

Conferred with the Padma Vibhushan and many other honours for his pioneering work in the field of environment protection, Bahuguna also