Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday came out and clapped in recognition of the services being rendered by village and ward volunteers, carrying the benefits of his myriad welfare schemes to the doorsteps of thousands of people.
At the appointed hour, Reddy, accompanied by Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, DGP D. Gautam Sawang and other senior officials, stepped out of his camp office in Vijayawada to applaud the village and ward volunteers of the state.
Many people clapped for the volunteers at several places in the state while some also honoured them.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had appealed to the people of the state to pay their tributes to the volunteers by giving them a round of applause as the state's village secretariat system completed one year on Friday.
"On this day last year, we invigorated Gandhiji's ideas of grama swaraj with the establishment of gram sachivalayams (secretariats) to make our villages self-reliant," said Reddy.
He said the village secretariats are meant to bring non-corrupt governance to people's doorsteps.
For every 50 households, the government has appointed one volunteer to take the benefits of the government schemes to them.
The Chief Minister had called on the people to clap for the services of the volunteers 7 p.m. on Friday, taking a leaf out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's similar request while fighting the Covid-19 pandemic earlier.