THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Sunderlal Bahuguna, noted environmentalist who passed away at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh on Friday, Kerala was quite close to his heart. “I come from the land of the Himalayas. To conserve mountains and forests, conservation of rivers and water resources is necessary,’’ he had said during a visit here.
His love of trees, rivers and forests brought him into Thiruvananthapuram in 2002 to flag off ‘Nathivandanam’, a state-level event for conservation of 41 rivers in the state, organised by the Kerala chapter of Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA). The event was held at Thiruvallam. Bahuguna, who was 75 at the time, came despite suffering from some physical ailment.
“Because of his presence, the event was super special for us. Though he had some physical problems, he came here because of his love of nature and dedication to the cause of environment. Three years ago, I had met him at his residence in Uttarakhand. To my great surprise, Bahuguna was energetic and exuberant. He talked about the importance of ‘tree farming and (need to usher in) changes to the culture of agriculture,” said C Suresh Kumar, general secretary of CISSA- Kerala.
However, Bahuguna, the leader of Chipko Movement, was a regular visitor to Wayanad. His first visit was in 1986 when a group of farmers were protesting against planting Acacia trees. He came and expressed solidarity with the protest. Since then, he used to come to Wayanad once in two years, said Badusha, a local farmer. His last visit was to inaugurate the 25th anniversary of ‘ Save Silent valley’ protest at Wayanad in 2009.
Towards the latter half of the 1980s, when tourism started picking up in the state, then Kollam district collector had decided to ‘clear’ a patch of mangroves near the Asramam ground for beautification and conversion of the stretch along the Ashtamudi lake into a walkway. This move was widely opposed by the environmentalists and several persons had moved the court against government’s move. This had prompted Bahuguna to come down to Kollam. To underscore the ecological and economic importance of mangroves, he had literally walked the entire stretch.
Though considerable damage had already been inflicted, the collector was forced to halt the construction.
He had also visited Ernakulam in 2005 to inaugurate the Indian River Conference organised by Peaceful society, Goa and Indian River Network.