Veteran environmentalist Ravi Chopra has long been an outspoken critic of the environmental degradation in Uttarakhand in the name of development. In 2022, he made headlines when he resigned from the Supreme Court-appointed committee on the Char Dham all-weather road, expressing disappointment over permission for “brazen widening of roads” in the ecologically-fragile region.
Previously, Chopra, a research scientist at Dehradun-based People's Science Institute, also headed the ministry of environment-appointed expert committee on the role of hydroelectric projects in the 2013 flash floods disaster in Uttarakhand.