Don't Create Memorials, Plant Trees Instead, Says Anil Dave's Will

Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, whose sudden death on Thursday morning saddened those in power and in opposition alike, in his will wrote that his last rites should be conducted in the simplest possible manner. Dave had never married.

News18.com

Updated:May 18, 2017, 2:04 PM IST

Don't Create Memorials, Plant Trees Instead, Says Anil Dave's Will

Union Environment Minister Anil Dave passed away on Thursday morning.

New Delhi: Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, whose sudden death on Thursday morning saddened those in power and in opposition alike, in his will wrote that his last rites should be conducted in the simplest possible manner. Dave had never married.

Written and signed by Dave on July 23, 2012, the will says that he wished for his last rites to be conducted at Bandrabhan in Madhya Pradesh, where the International River Festival is held annually on the bank of Narmada. Conservation of Narmada was Dave’s passion, towards which he relentlessly worked all his life.

ALSO READ | Narmada and its Ecology Defined Anil Madhav Dave's Life

“I would like my last rites to be conducted in tandem with Vedic procedures. I would prefer that it happened without any pomp or show,” Dave stated in his will. The will also mentions that there be no awards or memorials in his name.

“If people want to do something to honour me and my work, please plant saplings and make sure they survive. Work towards conservation of rivers and their tributaries. All this should be done without using my name,” the will further states.

Of all the different hats he donned seamlessly in the 60 years that he spent on this planet, Narmada and its ecology were always at the core of Dave’s work. Even as a Union minister, he yearned to remain connected with where he belonged — Narmada, the river whose name means ‘the Giver of Pleasure’.

Every year, he would return to it during winters — the biennial ‘River Festival’ he helped organise. He founded ‘Narmada Samagra’ an organisation which worked for the conservation of river and its catchment area. He flew a Cessna aircraft, circumambulating the river; and traversed the entire course on a raft, 1,312 km in 19 days, to flag conservation issues.