nainitaldehradun google commemorated the 45th anniversary of the chipko movement with a doodle on monday even as the leader of the campaign termed tree felling for char dham road devastating to the state the doodle portrays women who were at the forefront of the mission and had kept nightlong vigils in pahadi attire forming a chain to protect a tree the scene sums up the chipko movement wherein in 1973 villagers in chamoli district then part of uttar pradesh took to hugging trees to prevent their felling by contractors chipko movement leader sunderlal bahuguna said that he was happy about google commemorating the movement but expressed concern over trees being felled for allweather char dham road which is a pet initiative of prime minister narendra modi im worried about the pace at which trees are being felled construction of char dham road is devastating to our state as lakhs of trees would be sacrificed for this project we would lose the entire forest ecosystem the 91yearold green warrior told toi over 43000 trees the state government has claimed have been earmarked to be felled for the rs 12000 crore allweather char dham road of which more than half have been cut the national green tribunal ngt has recently banned further felling of trees in the road project till the next hearing of the matter in april meanwhile some environmentalists said that google commemorating the 45th anniversary of the chipko movement would draw focus of youngsters on environmental issues environmentalist ajay singh rawat said this symbolic gesture by google reflects the true grit of pahadi women it shows that chipko movement is still relevant as the world environment faces increasing challenges due to deforestation climate change etc the chipko movement was inspired by a similar campaign in 1730 ad in rajasthan led by the bishnoi community as many as 363 people sacrificed their lives while trying to save trees that were being felled under a royal decree