The Hindu : Karnataka News : Bahuguna disapproves of river-linking project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Bahuguna disapproves of river-linking project

By Our Staff Reporter

Sunderlal Bahuguna — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE, FEB. 10. The lonely hermit-soldier of the Tehri region, Sunderlal Bahuguna, may have managed to stave off the building of the Tehri dam by a few years, but the fact that it is becoming a reality does not dim his enthusiasm one bit in fighting on.

"One fights injustice and braves attacks of being labelled anti-establishment to encourage the future generations," he says.

The man, who spearheaded the Chipko movement to fight the felling of trees, is still crusading for trees.

Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting, and by 2025 the Bhagirati and the Ganga may become mythical rivers like the Saraswathi. Everyone knows why this is happening, but no one wants to listen to his conscience or remember Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Bahuguna says.

Mr. Bahuguna, who was in the city after touring the Kali River valley in Uttara Kannada to see the receptacle for effluents from the West Coast Paper Mills, was harsh about the plan to inter-link rivers.

The rivers are drying up everywhere and groundwater is not given a chance to replenish itself. The whole idea is a scheme to make money while people die without access to water, unable to grow food, he says.

"Water, which is supposed to be life-giving, has become poison," he says. But he has a remedy.

"Nehru once saw Gandhiji wash his face with just a glass of water, and observed that water is available in plenty and he could use more. But the Mahatma said all that water is not for me, I must only use what I need."

Food security

Find alternatives to water-intensive activities of all kinds, Mr. Bahuguna says.

Afforestation in his book acquires a new name — tree farming.

Trees give five times more food than crops that are grown by chopping them down, and we need to shift to growing trees for fruits, nuts, oilseeds and fodder, he says.

Mr. Bahuguna has a solution to make food security a reality even for the poor.

"Keep food local, learn to get sustenance from your surroundings, and that is the route to self-sufficiency, and more forests," he says.

Mr. Bahuguna, who participated in a programme at the Press Club of Bangalore on Wednesday, later went to consult with the former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachaliah on how to approach the issue as a human rights violation.

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