Complaints jam Jiangxi governor's mobile phones

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-06 22:32

Jiangxi governor Wu Xinxiong. [file]

NANCHANG - A whim by east China's Jiangxi province governor Wu Xinxiong to publish two mobile phone numbers to hear public complaints about housing problem has received so overwhelming reactions that the phones were damaged by too many calls, and have to be replaced by new ones, informed sources said.

Since August1 when the two numbers were published, staff of the governor's office had received more than 2,000 calls and over 1,000 text messages from residents by August 5.

As more calls kept flooding in, the governor decided to double the number of operators to eight on August 5. It also changed the operation time from 16 hours a day to 24 hours.

It was also being prepared to publish the email address of the governor to allow more people express their grievances.

Governor Wu went the call center Tuesday to hear what the public had to say to him.

"All staff in the office should answer the phone with great patience. They should provide adequate explanations and take notes of the problems that could not be solved immediately," he said.

On August 1, the Jiangxi government published three senior officials' phone numbers through a government website and short message service. They included Jiangxi vice governor Shi Wenqing and Nanchang mayor Hu Xian, as well as Wu.

The move was launched to hear residents' complaints about irregularities in the sales of affordable houses and government-subsidized low-rent houses.

The policies were targeted to China's low income families, which had different standards in accordance with the local region's economy development level. Some residents provided forged personal information to meet the qualification for a transaction.

According to the governor's office, about 80 percent people called to complain about civil disputes, social security and employment issues. Twenty percent of them complained about housing issues. A very few of them just called to find out if the two numbers were real.

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