THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Actor Mohanlal has been announced the winner of this year's Attukal Amba award constituted by the Attukal Bhagavathy temple trust. Mohanlal will also inaugurate cultural events organised as part of the Pongala festival. The festival will begin on February 9. The inaugural function of the cultural events will be held at 6.30 pm.

The pongala will be held on February 17. The temple trust authorities said that the pongala will be restricted to homes this year in the wake of the surge in Covid cases. The government has announced that this year's Attukal Pongala will be held on a limited basis in the wake of the spread of Covid. The decision was taken at a Covid review meeting chaired by Education Minister. Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan, Transport Minister Antony Raju and Mayor Arya Rajendran also attended the Covid review meeting. It was also decided that all the ceremonies at the temple would be conducted in accordance with the Covid norms without crowds.