Amaravati, Dec 31 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Tuesday that five crore people of the state are his high command.

Stating that he has no high command, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) termed people as his high command.

He was addressing a public meeting at Yanamandala in Palnadu district after the distribution of monthly social security pensions to the beneficiaries.

Asserting that real welfare is illuminating the lives of the poor, the Chief Minister claimed that a poverty-free society is his main objective.

He stated the people suffered a lot in the past five years and the situation was so bad that they could not even come out of their houses.

Without naming Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Naidu alleged that whenever his predecessor visited any place in the state, curtains were put up on either side of the road while trees were cut down and people were forcibly shifted from that place. “I am not that kind of Chief Minister. I always move among the people in a simple manner to take care of them,” he said.

Earlier, Naidu personally visited a house to hand over the pension amount to Talari Saramma and Yedukondalu. He prepared coffee in the house of Yedukondalu and served it to his family members. The Chief Minister orders officials to sanction Rs 5 lakh as a loan to the son of Yedukondalu from the BC Corporation for self-employment and also for constructing a house.

The Chief Minister also promised Rs 60,000 as financial assistance from the Government for the tyre shop being run by Yedukondalu.

The Chief Minister directed officials to sanction Rs 3 lakh loan to Saramma, whose husband died of Corona. He also asked them to extend assistance to her son for NEET coaching.

Naidu said that the State Government is paying pensions to a record number of 64 lakh beneficiaries. He claimed that Andhra Pradesh is the only state paying Rs 4,000 monthly pension to each beneficiary.

The Chief Minister warned the officials of serious action if the pension is not distributed at the doorstep of the beneficiaries. "We will receive the information through GPS whether the pension is being distributed at the doorstep or not," he said.

The Chief Minister said that the State had witnessed total destruction in the past five years and observed that all the systems were completely demolished while the Central funds were diverted. Scared of 'J' tax, no industrialist dared to look towards the State during that time, he said and claimed that he was slowly bringing the State back on track.