Mango Meadows, a man-made agricultural theme park in Kerala’s Kottayam district, is in need of your help. N.K. Kurian, the Managing Director of Mango Medows, wanted to set up the world’s 1st agricultural theme park as his dream project. In 2005, he slowly started to buy land with the money he earned working as an Engineer in the Middle East. After years of toiling, in 2018, he opened doors to Kerala’s man-made forest land, Mango Meadows. What one would consider one of the most biodiverse places on earth is now struggling to make ends meet.
N.K. Kurian has invested over INR 120 crore, including INR 13 crore bank loan. Despite the two-year floods in Kerala, he still earned a profit of INR 8 crore and INR 11 crore respectively. They were able to recover from the floods smartly. But when COVID-19 struck, things have been looking a bit gloomy for N.K. Kurian’s Mango Meadows. The business in the past 16 months has been dull. So much that, N.K. Kurian is knocking on doors for donations.
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In an interview with ANI, he shared, “The Rs 13 crore loan taken from a private bank following the closing down of the park due to Covid has swelled up to Rs 25 crore. By now I have knocked on all doors and am waiting for a reply from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as I have sought a takeover of my loan by any of the State financial organisations.
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Kurian further added, “During the pandemic, I asked my employees to take turns and come for the upkeep of the farm. Every month I incur an expense of around Rs 7 lakh and that’s how my loan has touched Rs 25 crore now. I am very confident that I will be able to pay back if the situation changes and visitors return.” Kurian is banking on the Government to help him waive off the loan and take charge of the property. He is seeking the assistance of Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC), Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation or Kerala Bank to look into the matter immediately.
Mango Meadows is spread across 30 acres of land with more than 4500 species of plants, 700 trees, 900 flowering plants, 64 varieties of fish, domestic animals and birds. The park also houses 16 cottages such as Mango Cottages Paddy premium Rooms, Kootukudumbham rooms, Mango Honeymoon rooms etc. The world’s 1st agricultural theme park has even garnered a spot in URF World Records and Limca Book of Records.
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