Tighten the belt further

We should try to turn measures taken by the central government departments to save money that can go for the aid of the quake areas into a normal practice, says an article in the website of People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

On Monday, a vice-finance minister declared at a meeting that the central government departments will save 2.545 billion yuan of office expenses for the anti-quake work. The savings will be made possible through shortening conferences, cutting business trips, simplifying receptions, reducing uses of government cars and saving water, power and oil. This huge sum of money saved by these departments will benefit the people and the country and set a good example for others.

Thrift is one of the virtues of our nation. When an individual is not held accountable for the use of common assets, waste tends to arise. With the expansion of administrative bodies, extravagances may appear. Take the convening of a conference for example. A conference with hundreds or thousands of participants may only solve a problem that could have been solved via the telephone.