AMRITSAR: The environmentalist and Gandhian Sunder Lal Bahuguna on Tuesday celeberated his 80th birthday with the inhabitants of Bhagat Puran Singh Pingalwara, a house for mentally challenged orphans and destitute here. 

The role of Bahuguna is written in the Indian History for spearheading Chipko movement to save precious trees, Sunder Lal Bahuguna has come a long way in his meaningful life.Bahuguna accompanied by his wife is on short visit to Punjab and is staying in the Pinglwara Amritsar.
 
He gave a call to the Indians to start a new movement to cover the Himalyas with broad leave trees. He said that people living in plains in general and Punjabis in particular must insist and initiate to begin the movement as it would directly effect cultivation and irrigation of their land and added that it would also rein in water crisis being faced by the country men. 

According to him the British in order to further their commercial ends encouraged sowing of timber species of trees, which have little capacity to conserve water and felt that it was one of the reasons of scarcity of water. Besides a large number of hills in Uttarakhand are denuded of trees and it was high time to cover the entire Himalya with broad leave trees, which would provide food, fodder, fiber, fertilizer, fuel and timber. He opined that saplings be planted of nuts, edible oil, flowers for honey and seasonal fruit.

Son of a forest officer in the princely state of Tihiri Gahrwal, Bahuguna said that it would not only ensure livelihood for people residing around forest but also provide much needed ecological balance in shape of recharging of ground water. He stressed that it must be remembered that human beings were not only beneficiaries of bounties of nature.

Rreminiscing his association with Punjab in mid 40's, the octogenarian said that he enrolled in BA (Hons) Political Science at Sanatan Dharam College after serving five months imprisonment at Tihri for participating in freedom movement. However, the Police chased him again for continuing with his struggle. Leaving his studies in between he went underground and joined a Sikh family of village Shekhawala in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan) adopting the name of Maan Singh. He also learnt Gurmukhi. Bahuguna with a grateful look said that the family now resides at Patti.