Kandal Rajan's kingdom in Pazhyangadi

KANNUR: Parayil Rajan (62), a native of Pazhyangadi, Kannur, maintains a mangrove nursery with about 5,000 saplings attached to his house. A fixation towards mangrove forests was not a pastime discovered after retirement. There is a story behind it that even led to people giving him the sobriquet ‘Kandal Rajan’.

Rajan had to stop his studies in the fifth grade due to poverty. He spent his childhood paddling in the Pazhyangadi River with his father, who was a fisherman. His love for that ‘green hut’ began when he understood that there would be more fish among the mangrove forests.

While Kallen Pokkudan rose as a legend of mangrove conservation on one bank of the river, Rajan was engaged in a silent revolution on the other bank, fishing in a canoe and collecting mangrove seeds. He planted more than 20 species, including Kuttikandal, Pookandal, Vallikkandal, Chakkarakandal, Ezhuthanikandal, Chullikandal, and Uppukuruva. After seeing the plastic bottles filling up the mangrove roots and stunting their growth, Rajan took up a new mission of collecting plastic by boat every day. He says with concern that people see the river as a garbage dump.

In 2018, he took a loan of Rupees five lakh from the Kannur District Bank's Kannapuram branch for his son Yaduraj's higher studies and his daughter Pooja's marriage. He pledged his house and 5.5 cents of land as collateral. Rajan was hoping that the Forest Department would soon acquire his 1.9 acres of mangrove land.

With the combined effects of the floods and COVID, the repayments were delayed. It came to Rupees nine lakh, including interest. Last month, he waived off the interest through a one-time settlement scheme and paid off the debt last month by pledging the gold of his wife, Sethulakshmi and daughter, Pooja.

The house was thus saved from attachment. But he will have to struggle to get back the gold, including his wife’s sacred pendant wore during the wedding. The land that was notified to be acquired by the Forest Department is still awaiting confirmation due to procedural hurdles. The law does not allow mangrove lands to be sold. A petition has been submitted to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and the Forest Department to help Rajan get out of this misery.