India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
New Delhi, May 21: Celebrated environmentalist and leader of Chipko Movement, Sunderlal Bahuguna succumbed to Covid-19 at AIIMS Rishikesh on Friday. He was 94.
He was one of the early environmentalists of India, and later he and people associated with the Chipko movement started taking up environmental issues, like against large dams.
For years he has been fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, first as a member of the Chipko movement in the 1970s, and later spearheaded the Anti-Tehri Dam movement starting 1980s, to early 2004.
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….