NEW DELHI: While addressing this year’s first and 73rd Mann Ki Baat programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated polio stricken Rajappan, the protector of Vembanad Lake. Modi praised Rajappan for doing a great job.

Rajappan earns a living by collecting and selling plastic bottles dumped in the lake. He was polio stricken when he was five years old and since then he has been paralysed. The world came to know about Rajappan Chettan hailing from Kottayam via social media.

He hires a boat on a daily basis and leaves home at 6 am. He collects the plastic bottles dumped in the Vembanad Lake and often returns late. He has been doing this job for the past seven years. He is not expecting much but wants an amount to meet his daily expenses.

He is staying with his sister in a dilapidated house. There is no electricity but Rajappan is happy.