Noted environmentalist Sunderlal Bahuguna dies of Covid-19 at AIIMS Rishikesh

Environmentalist and Chipko movement pioneer Sunderlal Bahuguna died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Friday after battling COVID-19 for several days. He was 94.

He breathed his last at 12.05 pm, AIIMS Director Ravikant said. Bahuguna, one of India's best known environmentalists, was admitted to the hospital on May 8 after testing positive for Covid-19.

He had been critical since last night with his oxygen level dropping drastically, and was on CPAP therapy in the ICU of the premier hospital.

Condoling the death, 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.