JANUARY is normally a time when takeaways are off the menu and the household fridge is packed with salad and veg in a vain attempt to shed those festive pounds.

But restaurant and takeaway owners around Gwent are urging residents to take a night off from the diet and raise thousands of pounds to help their disaster-hit homeland.

Nearly 20 businesses throughout the county will donate every penny of their takings on Wednesday night to help people whose lives were devastated in the wake of November's cyclone in Bangladesh.

More than 600 people died after a powerful cyclone smashed into Bangladesh's coast, levelling villages and uprooting trees.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated or sought safe shelter before the storm hit the coast from the Bay of Bengal, but some were left behind.

Sheikh Tahir, 54, owner of the Koh-i-noor Tandoori on Chepstow Road, Newport has friends who were among the tens of thousands of people whose homes were damaged in the disaster.

Mr Tahir left Bangladesh in 1968 but his mother and brothers remain in unaffected parts of the country.

He said: "We live here where things are good but they are over there and need our help.

"We have a moral duty to help.

"The effects were devastating. Nearly a third of the country was affected.

Many of the staff at Gwent's curry houses and takeaways have links to Bangladesh.

Most takeaways make around £200 on a normal Wednesday night but they are hoping customers will decide to treat themselves and help raise thousands for those back in their homeland.

  • If you are looking for a good excuse to indulge for the night, here are the restaurants taking part: Balti Nite, Crosskeys; The Dilshad Newport: The Golden Tandoori, Newport; Jewel Balti, Newport; The Koh-I-Noor, Newport; The King Balti, Newport: Little India, Newport; Lahore, Newport; Maesglas Balti, Newport; Premier Balti, Newport; Popadoms, Newport; Chutney, Newport; Prince of Caerleon, Caerleon; Rangeela Spice, Newport; Sylhet Tandoori, Newport; Spicy Aroma, Newport; Tamarind, Newport; Taste of Asia, Newport and The Spice Bowl, Brynmawr.