Mammootty to donate food to chikunguniya-hit village

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 17(IANS) Malayalam superstar Mammootty will donate food items among 1,000 families in a Kerala village hit by chikunguniya on the occasion of Onam.

The veteran actor will donate the Onam food packets in Parathodu village near Kanjirappally in Kottayam district, about 160 km from here. The packets will include rice, pulses and other food items.

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who is arriving in Kottayam next week is likely to give away the packets to these families, but Mammootty will not be present himself.

The food will be distributed on one of the four days of the Onam festival, which starts on Aug 26.

Mammootty said he decided to do this because the village has lost the maximum number of people to chikunguniya in the state this year.

'This is not a publicity event and I would not be going there to distribute it either. This is done to see that others also come to extend a helping hand to those who are suffering,' Mammootty told IANS.

In the last six months, according to official figures, more than 550 people have died due to chikunguniya and close to 1.5 million people have suffered from the mosquito-borne disease in the state.

Due to the outbreak of the disease, most of the villagers have been reduced to a hand to mouth existence.