Vijayawada police have announced traffic restrictions in the city for Monday morning, in view of the Andhra Pradesh Volunteers' Seva Mitra awards presentation ceremony, which will be attended by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Village and ward volunteers will receive awards under three categories — Seva Vajra, Seva Ratna and Seva Mitra — in recognition of their efficiency in various areas of work like disbursing welfare schemes, conducting door-to-door services and ensuring implementation of home delivery of services like pension. The ceremony will take place from 10 am to 12 pm at Murali Resort at Poranki in Vijayawada, on the eve of Ugadi.
According to a release from the office of the Vijayawada Commissioner of Police, APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation) buses plying between Vijayawada and Gudivada, Machilipatnam will have to take alternate routes. Buses and other heavy vehicles travelling from Machilipatnam and Gudivada to Vijayawada will have to take a diversion via Kankipadu, through Punadipadu, Uppaluru, and Kesarapalli. Buses travelling in the opposite direction from Vijayawada towards Machilipatnam and Gudivada will have to take the route via Benz Circle, Ramavarappadu Ring road, Enikepadu, Kesarapalli and Uppuluru and then through Kankipadu.
Between 10 am to 12.30 pm, no vehicles (except the ones headed to the awards ceremony) will be allowed to go from Nidamanuru and Enikepadu towards the venue in Poranki. Travellers will have to take the Enikepadu 100 feet road instead to reach Bandar road.
The village and ward volunteer system was introduced in the state about two years back when the YSRCP government came to power, to ensure last-mile delivery of government schemes. The Seva Mitra award will be given to volunteers who have served for one whole year without any complaints in their work, and it was earlier announced that 2,18,115 volunteers will receive this award. The Seva Ratna award will be given to 4,000 volunteers (five from each Mandal and municipality, and ten from each corporation), and the Seva Vajra award will be given to 875 volunteers (five from each Assembly constituency). The awards will include certificates, medals, badges as well as cash rewards.
Later on April 14, Jagan was scheduled to address a large public meeting in Tirupati, ahead of the Tirupati Lok Sabha bye-poll on April 17. However, he cancelled his trip amid rising cases of COVID-19. As of Saturday evening, there were 18,666 active COVID-19 cases in the state, of which 3,309 cases were freshly reported in the last 24 hours.
Read: