All staff and no work

Everybody's business is nobody's business. An overstaffed government department means not only waste of taxpayer's money but also total inefficiency. Worse, some bloated ones turn themselves into profit-making organs to provide payroll for their redundant staff.

The environmental protection bureau in Xupu county in central China's Hunan province is such a government department. Its stipulated staff strength is 20, but it has 117. What is ridiculous is that the redundant ones have each paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan ($1,470) or 20,000 yuan for entering this department, and then they get a salary of 1,000 yuan a month. But not anyone can do that; only those with connections in local government. It is reported that four persons were recruited at the behest of local county leaders.

As there is not enough work for the redundant workers, many of them do not work at all but remain on the payroll. The allocation from local government funds is far from enough to provide for so many people, then the bureau misappropriates the fees enterprises have paid for discharge of pollutants.