Officials punished over safety accidents

Updated: 2012-01-07 01:18

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING -- Four ministerial-level officials found to be responsible for "major safety accidents" in China last year have been punished for disciplinary violations, Vice-Minister of Supervision Qu Wanxiang said on Friday.

They were among 269 officials who were punished for dereliction of duty in 13 major road and railway accidents, pipeline explosions, building fires and mine accidents, with 107 cases transferred to judicial departments for further investigation and punishment, Qu said at a press briefing on disciplinary and supervision work.

Among the 13 major accidents, four occurred in 2011. They include a fatal sleeper bus fire on July 22 in central China's Henan province that killed more than 40 and a disastrous high-speed train crash that killed 40 people on July 23 near the eastern city of Wenzhou, said Qu.

According to the press briefing, from July 2009 to November 2011, discipline watchdogs uncovered more than 20,000 corruption cases involving land use, transportation, railway, hydropower and urban infrastructure building projects.

During the period, more than 15,100 officials received disciplinary punishments. Among them, 89 were prefecture-level officials and 1,465 were above the county level.

Land disputes, which have often been a flashpoint for conflict in years past, were well-attended to last year, an official of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said at the press briefing.

Cui Shaopeng, spokesman for CCDI, said in 2011, about 1,480 cases of illegal land appropriation and demolition were handled, and 509 people involved were held accountable.

Food and drug safety is another concern for discipline authorities.

According to the press briefing, nearly 3,895 people were held accountable for nearly 6,000 food safety violations last year, while 3,680 people were held accountable for more than 9,000 cases of drug safety violations.

2011 saw a total of 4,843 Chinese officials above the county head level punished for discipline violations. Cases involving 777 of these officials have been transferred to judicial departments.

While hailing the progress of the country's anti-corruption efforts, Cui Shaopeng admitted corruption is still frequently seen in some government departments and sectors as economic activity booms in the fast-developing country.

"The public has pinned its hopes on the fight against corruption, but corruption cannot be rooted out in the short-term. The fight against corruption remains severe and the tasks involved are heavy," said Cui.