Monday, 27 March 2023 | PNS | RAINI
The 49th anniversary of the start of the world famous Chipko movement was celebrated at Raini village in Chamoli district on Sunday. The villagers celebrate the occasion every year and mark it with tree plantation. Locals gathered in the village and paid tributes to the movement’s leader Gaura Devi, recollected her actions and expressed their views on the environment on the occasion.
It was on March 26, 1974 that the movement to save forests began in Raini village and later became famous as the Chipko movement. Gaura Devi’s friend Bano Devi said that workers of a contractor had come to the village on this day in 1974 to cut trees. The women of the village had hugged the trees and had stated that they would rather die than let the trees of their jungle be cut. The women headed by Gaura Devi strongly opposed the contractor due to which the labourers went back without being able to cut the trees. To keep Gaura Devi’s memory alive, the women plant trees on this occasion.
