Sundarlal Bahuguna breathed his last at 1205 today in Rishikesh. Covid has taken yet one more life and that too of an eminent person. Bahuguna was 94; he was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh for Covid treatment on 8th May. His condition became critical on the night of 20th May when his oxygen levels started dropping drastically.

He was one of India’s best known environmentalists. The Chipko Movement began in 1973 increasing social awareness and the need to save trees. He used the slogan, “Ecology is the permanent economy”. This movement was aimed at stopping deforestations.

Way back in 1970 when there was reckless cutting of trees, villagers in Chamoli started protesting. The crucial point came in when the government announced the auction of 2500 trees overlooking Alaknanda River. When the people came in with machines to cut the trees, the women of the village came to stop the lumbermen by hugging the trees.

Sundarlal Bahuguna led this movement by giving it a direction and by appealing to the then PM Indira Gandhi which resulted in a 15 year ban on chopping of green trees. Prime Minister Modi condoling Bahuguna’s death said that Bahuguna manifested “our centuries old ethos of living in harmony with nature”.