Protecting Himalayas is as important as securing country's borders: Murli Manohar Joshi

Dehradun, Dec 8 (PTI) Former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi extended his support to the Raksha Sutra programme organised in protest against the felling of more than 6,000 deodar trees for the widening of the Gangotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, and said that protecting the Himalayas is as important as securing the country's borders.

Joshi said this in his video message sent to the programme organised on Sunday in Uttarkashi's Harsil village.

He said that any injustice to the Himalayas would also be an injustice to the environment.

"If the Bhagirathi (river) disappears, then the benchmark of our culture will disappear," Joshi said.

Citing the Bhagavad Gita, he said that Lord Krishna has described himself as the Himalayas among the mountains and the Bhagirathi or Ganga among the rivers, and therefore, the Himalayas must be protected.

Referring to several past disasters, he said that we are making people's lives insecure in the Himalayas, and all these devastating calamities highlight human intervention.

He said that he has submitted a petition signed by 100 people to the Supreme Court to save the deodar trees, and if needed, another petition will be submitted in the future. PTI DPT AMJ AMJ