Oommen Chandy was a leader who carried the sorrows and sufferings of the common people in his heart, Chief Minister, V.D. Satheesan, said. He was inaugurating the Oommen Chandy commemoration organised by Kerala Secretariat Association here on Monday.

Chandy conducted mass contact programme several times to give a humane face to the administration. He listened to people and changed rules and amended laws as needed, to ease the hardships of the public. Whenever he heard an issue being raised by several persons, he understood it to be a public concern and did his best to attend to it, Mr. Satheesan recalled.

Never before had Kerala had an administrator with such compassion and concern for the people, he added. Mr. Satheesan also inaugurated a medical treatment financial assistance scheme of the association.