Oommen Chandy: Portrait of a visionary as leader of the masses

Former chief minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy, who passed away on Tuesday morning, was a leader who dedicated his life to public service.
Chandy, who knew the pulse of the people, put Kerala's development on the fast lane, knowing well in advance the needs of the masses. His name will be etched in history as the voice of billions.

Man of compassion
This incident shows the compassion he had for the people. Thousands had descended on Nagampadam Ground in Kottayam. Then chief minister Oommen Chandy was at the ground for his much-publicised Janasamparkam — or mass contact — programme.

A boy and a girl, orphaned at a tender age, were the first to approach the chief minister to hand over a memorandum. After a glance at the memorandum, Chandy announced that the government would meet the children's educational expenses. He also granted a financial aid of Rs 50,000. His first decision at the mass contact programme in Kottayam was well appreciated. However, those who had then gathered at Nagampadam were unaware that Chandy was well informed of the children's case in advance.

Cancer and a cardiac arrest had orphaned them, Chandy knew. The chief minister himself had earlier contacted Congress leader Siby Kollad, asking him to prepare a memorandum for the children. Despite his busy schedule, Chandy was aware — and took note of — the two siblings' plight and acted accordingly. A quality that makes him stand head and shoulders above others.

This is not a one-off instance. People in Kerala have several such stories to narrate about Chandy.

Kerala witnessed development, be it the Kochi Metro or the much-awaited Kannur airport, taking the fast lane during his tenure as the chief minister. Like his gait, speed was his mantra.

Fast and farther: Chandy's mantra for development
It was a necessity for Chandy to act fast when AK Antony handed over the state's mantle to him with barely 20 months left to complete the term in 2001. Realising that time was running out, Chandy decided to go to the people for first-hand knowledge of their needs. And it led to his mass contact programmes, an effective, novel and democratic initiative that placed him with the people.

The mass contact programmes, which he held across the state, were the foremost contribution of Chandy to the state. It was an initiative that even the United Nations took notice of.

End of red-tapism
Chandy's mass contact programmes were meant to gauge the needs of the people, who otherwise had to take up multiple visits to government offices. The initiative, which he launched in 2004, provided him enough space to be with the people, to realise their needs and thoughts. Initially, he heard their grievances in person but gradually developed an online facility as well.

The number of grievances the Chandy government redressed through the mass contact programmes stood at a mind-boggling 11,45,449. Interestingly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan placed these statistics before the House in reply to an Opposition MLA during the first session of the 14th Assembly in 2016.

The Chandy government from 2011 disbursed financial aid of Rs 242.87 crore through the mass contact programme. This amount was distributed without giving scope for any complaints, and it received the UN Public Service Award in 2013.

Kochi Metro
The Kochi Metro service runs testimony to Chandy's vision and determination in implementing development projects without time-lapse. The Chandy government prepared a detailed project report of the metro and decided to roll it out in 2004. The project hit the right track with the report getting the Union government's sanction and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laying its foundation stone. India's Metroman E Sreedharan further accelerated the project, and its first phase was commissioned in just four years.

On January 23, 2016, Kochi Metro conducted its first trial run between Aluva and Maharaja's Ground station on MG Road. The state and the central government pooled in 15 per cent each for the Rs 5,182 crore project. The remaining amount was raised as loans to fast-track the project.

The Opposition, however, preferred a political controversy when Chandy inaugurated the trial run in 2016. They claimed that the trial run was advanced so that the UDF could reap electoral benefits. However, the state had seen Chandy's interventions in making the metro a reality. He had not flexed his political muscle when a major textile showroom in Kochi refused land for the metro. He held several rounds of discussions with the firm to make the project possible.

His efforts brought Kochi Metro the honour of being the country's first metro project to be completed in the shortest possible time.

Kannur airport: Touchdown in two years
The central government announced the Kannur airport in 1996, but the clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest came only in July 2013. On receiving the clearance, the project took the right, high-speed track. The then defence minister A K Antony inaugurated the works on February 2, 2014. The construction of the terminal began the same year. The state government fast-tracked the construction of the runway, control tower, and terminal, and prepared the airport to receive its first test flight in two years.

The government completed 90 per cent of the airport construction work between 2011 and 2016. An IAF aircraft touched down at the airport on February 29, 2016, announcing the arrival of Kerala's fourth international airport. The Chandy government's contribution to realising the dream of an airport in Kannur will remain scripted in golden letters in Kerala's development history.

Vizhinjam port sets sail
The global tender for the Vizhinjam seaport project was floated in 2004 when Chandy was the chief minister. However, the Centre denied permission citing security reasons, and the project went into cold storage.

The second Chandy government gave a fresh lease of life to the project, entangled in controversies. In August 2015, the Kerala government inked a deal with Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited to complete the project in 1,000 days. The project is expected to benefit Kerala much since it is located close to the international sea route. Additionally, it has the benefit of natural depth a nautical mile off the coast.

The international sea route is 10 nautical miles off Vizhinjam. The project, kick-started by the Chandy government, is nearing completion.

Medical College for all districts
The Oommen Chandy government was aware of the people in Idukki travelling all the way to Kottayam for advanced treatment. This awareness made the government aim at establishing a medical college for every district. Kerala got five medical colleges after 30 years during Chandy's term as the chief minister. During his five-year term, the number of medical colleges in Kerala went to eight from five.

The new medical colleges came up in Manjeri, Palakkad, and Idukki. The government intended to increase the number of medical colleges in the state to provide advanced treatment to the citizens and also to ensure quality education for students. The General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram was renovated to start a second medical college in the capital city. However, the government that succeeded Chandy was not interested in the project.

The construction works of Konni and Kasaragod medical colleges were started during the Chandy regime. He also laid the foundation stones for the Wayanad and Haripad medical colleges. Necessary acquisitions for the ESI Medical College at Parippally, Cooperative Medical College in Kochi, and the medical college at Pariyaram, too, were completed during his term.

Touch of Compassion
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy went all-out in support of his Finance Minister KM Mani's Karunya lottery plan that envisaged benefits for patients from poor families. The Karunya lottery was launched to provide financial assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh to those suffering from about 11 serious ailments.

The lottery was an instant hit with even those who had never bought lotteries demanding them in a bid to aid the government's humanitarian gesture. The second Chandy government provided financial aid of Rs 1,200 crore to 1.42 lakh people using funds raised through the sale of Karunya lotteries.

Health initiatives
Kerala was the first state in India to roll out a cochlear implant initiative to bring children with hearing loss into the world of sound. As many as 640 children underwent free cochlear implantation during Chandy's term.

His government also provided 595 medicines free of cost in state-run hospitals and ensured free treatment for children in all government hospitals through its Arogyakiranam initiative. The Ammayum Kunjum (mother and child) project ensured free treatment for children up to the age of one from the time of conception. Chandy also thrived to bring all health initiatives under a common umbrella, the Sampoorna Aarogya Keralam (Complete Healthy Kerala).

Unerring imagination to understand future needs and the willingness to act accordingly make a good administrator. The initiatives mentioned above are some of the projects that Oommen Chandy launched when he was the chief minister. He had several more development ideas for Kerala, but they ran into opposition and unexpected hurdles. Here are a few of his ideas that were not implemented.

One of his dreams that never took wing is Air Kerala, an airline for the state. He wanted to provide cost-effective air travel to the Middle East. Though he had mooted the plan in 2006, it gained momentum during his second term. The plan was to launch an airline under a state government for the first time in India at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.

Chandy's idea was to make the government contribute 26 per cent of the cost and raise the remaining amount from ex-pats. Non-resident Keralites, too, were keen on the project, but the then aviation rules grounded the plan. It was then mandated that an airline should have 20 aircraft to operate overseas.

The Chandy government's efforts to seek relaxation in the norms did not bear fruit, and Air Kerala never took off.

Light Metros in two cities
When Kochi got its Metro, Oommen Chandy wanted the two other major cities Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode to have light metros. His government also estimated that the projects would cost Rs 6,726 crore and ensured the services of Metroman E Sreedharan. However, the government that succeeded Chandy did not show any interest in the projects.

Suburban rail project
The suburban rail project that the Oommen Chandy government mooted was more beneficial to Kerala. The UDF government and Indian Railways started discussing the Rs 6,000 crore suburban rail project in 2013. The plan was to modernise railway signals and avoid land acquisition. The initial plan was that the Centre and the state would equally fund the project. But the project did not materialise like the express highway the UDF government had mooted in 2001.

Speed and transparency are the major keywords to describe Oommen Chandy. He was a chief minister who installed CCTV cameras in his office, which anyone could access anytime. He will be remembered as the chief minister who ushered in positive changes that helped Kerala make giant strides toward progress.