THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With political parties yet to reach a consensus on the Athirappilly hydroelectric project and LDF partners — the CPM and the CPI — pitching tents at two divergent poles on environmental issues, Chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel Madhav Gadgil on Thursday made it clear that he was ready to address all concerns of Kerala regarding the project report submitted to the Environment Ministry. The fate of the project based on the report submitted recently is expected to be decided by Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Saturday. “I am ready to address all concerns regarding the environmental assessment of the committee once the Ministry publishes the report,” Madhav Gadgil told Express from Pune on Thursday, a day after former Power Minister and CPM leader A K Balan alleged that two WGEEP members were biased.“The committee acted responsibly and submitted the report on August 31, well before the deadline. We had visited the site and conducted studies in detail before submitting the environmental impact assessment report,” he said. Asked about the allegation by Balan, Gadgil said the report would be placed in the public domain and it was for the Centre to take a call on it.
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