Thiruvananthapuram: Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Oommen Chandy confessed that he could not endorse the stand of his party colleague late P T Thomas over the controversial Gadgil Committee report on protecting the Western Ghats due to "external pressures".
Paying tributes to the Thrikkakara legislator P T Thomas who passed away on December 22, Chandy admitted that external pressures prevented him from supporting him as the environmental issue raged nearly a decade ago.
"P T Thomas took a firm stand on the Gadgil Committee report. His stand on the matter was right. I wanted to support him but couldn't," Chandy said while speaking at a commemorative function organised by the Kerala Students Union in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Thomas, who was the Member of Parliament representing the Idukki Lok Sabha constituency (2009-2014) then, had invited the wrath of the Catholic Church too for his bold stand on the conservation of the Western Ghats as envisaged by the Gadgil Committee report. The Congress party even denied Thomas a second chance to contest from the Idukki seat.
Thomas who was close to Chandy subsequently distanced himself from the prominent 'A' faction of the Congress headed by the latter.
Renowned ecologist Madhav Gadgil headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) appointed by the erstwhile Ministry of Environment and Forests of India. Its report which was submitted in August 2011 met with fierce opposition from a section of the public as its proposals, if implemented in toto, would have resulted in the displacement of lakhs of people settled on vast tracts forming part of the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.
