Thiruvananthapuram: As Kerala celebrated Thiruvonam on Friday, the Ammathottil in Thiruvananthapuram welcomed a tender new life. The infant, a four-day-old baby girl, weighed 2.8 kg and was named Thumba.

According to the Commission's general secretary, G L Arun Gopi, the baby was taken to the Women and Children’s Hospital for preliminary medical examinations. Thumba becomes the tenth child to be received at the Ammathottil in the city this year.

Introduced by the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare in 2002, Ammathottil (baby cradle) aims at providing shelter and care for newborns and babies abandoned by parents for various reasons.

The baby cradle was established at the council's headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram to aid women to bringing their unwanted children to safety, at a place where they are brought up, rather than leaving them in trash or garbage.