Officials "must treat public woes"

BEIJING, July 16 -- The central government has asked

all county heads to try to redress residents' grievances and help solve their

problems.

The unprecedented move is in response to recent

public protests and shows the central leadership is paying more attention to

public complaints after a rising number of social conflicts at the grassroots

level.

The central government recently ordered all the Party

chiefs of 2,300 counties to act on people's complaints and try to resolve their

disputes, the Outlook Weekly magazine has said.

The help-public campaign, which started earlier this

month, makes it mandatory for all local CPC chiefs to keep track of key public

complaint cases till they are solved, the magazine said.

"All the county CPC chiefs will have to shoulder this

responsibility," it said, referring to the rising number of public complaints

and mass incidents at the county level.

The central government has taken note of the

incidents and wants the local officials to make every possible effort to ensure

a harmonious social atmosphere.

The latest in the series of such incidents took place

in the affluent coastal province of Zhejiang. Hundreds of migrant workers

attacked and injured three policemen after an argument over registration of a

migrant as a temporary resident turned violent.

After the central government order was implemented,

people have flocked to meet with local leaders with their complaints, which have

ranged from illegal land seizures and judicial injustice to non-payment of

salary and village officials' corruption.

Party secretary and magistrate of Pingyang county in

Zhejiang received 362 people on July 10 alone, the Wenzhou Metropolitan News has

reported.

Mo Jihong, a professor at the law institute of the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the government move comes in response

to accumulating social ills during the country's economic reform.

"Infringement of legal rights of the public is still

common ... at the grassroots level. That's why the county Party chiefs are the

protagonists of this campaign."

And the system, if implemented properly, could yield

positive results, he said.

Huang Qingping, a resident of Huaining county in

Anhui province, said he hoped the move could be regularized, instead of being

another "temporary image-projecting" act.

(Source: China Daily)