Sonam Wangchuk, a famous engineer turned educational reformer whose life inspired a figure in the Bollywood blockbuster “3 Idiots”, finished his nine-day climactic fast here at NDS Stadium Leh on Monday. Srinagar, June 26: Sonam Wangchuk, a notable engineer turned educational reformist whose life inspired a character in the Bollywood blockbuster “3 Idiots.”
On June 18, Wangchuk started a climate-related fast that would last for seven days in order to show support for constitutional and environmental provisions that would preserve the environmentally fragile and vulnerable Ladakh area. He added two more days to it, and on the ninth day of his climactic fast, he broke his fast at the NDS Stadium in Leh, where hundreds of people had assembled.
The ‘climatic fast’ that Wangchuk undertook was the second time he had done so in the preceding six months. Earlier in the year, in January of this year, he had completed a climate-related fast when it was below zero degrees.
“THIS IS THE NINTH DAY OF MY FAST. To protect both the delicate alpine ecosystem of Ladakh and the indigenous population of that region. “A significant number of people have gathered around me as I break my fast,” Sonam Wangchuk tweeted. As he was breaking his fast at the NDS Stadium in Leh, Buddhist leader and Chairman of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) Thupstan Chhewang presented him with some water and food. This took place in the presence of a huge number of people. In addition to the other four requests that have been presented by the leaders of Ladakh, Wangchuk, who is 56 years old and is recognised for his environmentally friendly ideas, has been urging that Ladakh be granted protections under the sixth schedule of the Constitution.
