Amaravati, April 1 (TIWN) Thanks to a network of village and ward volunteers it had put in place on Independence Day this year, the Andhra Pradesh government has been able to smoothly execute its coronavirus containment measures and deliver social welfare schemes.

On Wednesday morning, around 3 lakh ward and village volunteers descended into action and went door-to-door across Andhra Pradesh to deliver the monthly pensions to 59 lakh retired employees.  So effective was the delivery system that by 8.30 a.m., the volunteers had covered 53 per cent of pensioners, translating to 31 lakh disbursements out of 59 lakh pensioners. By noon, the volunteers had distributed 84.19 per cent of pensions.  The volunteers are taking adequate precautions to guard against COVID-19 transmission. This time the pensions are being disbursed on the basis of photo identification cards instead of fingerprint identification.