NO BUTTS: Beijing has outlawed smoking in most indoor public places (Photo by LI MINGFANG)

Officials Lack Accountability

After the April 28 train crash near Zibo City, Shandong Province, which claimed 72 lives, seven officials in the Jinan Railway Bureau have been removed or suspended. The move is regarded as a typical example of making officials accountable.

However, given the 72 lives lost in the accident and many more who were injured, the swift removal of relevant officials is far from enough because it's impossible that only a small number of officials are involved. All the officials related to this accident should be removed and then brought under investigation. If not, there is a good chance that some officials who should take responsibility but remain in their posts will not cooperate in the investigation, hoping to escape the accountability. Serious as the April 28 train crash is, up till now, not a single official has proactively resigned.

The latest collision also shows that the current official accountability system is quite ineffective. This wreck would be totally avoidable if relevant officials fulfilled their safety management responsibilities. To remove officials found responsible is now the only way to prevent similar tragedies from reoccurring.

Yanzhao Metropolis Daily

Govt Medical Grants Needed

In the face of the recent outbreaks of the highly contagious epidemic of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), the government of east China's Anhui Province announced that children infected with the virus might have their medical expenses reimbursed so that no child would be blocked from hospital because of financial reasons.

The Ministry of Public Health recently listed HFMD as an infectious disease. According to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, the state offers medical aid to patients of certain infectious diseases if they are living in poverty and their medical expenses are to be exempted. Thus, Anhui's offer to pay for needy families of infected children is a step toward fulfilling a legal obligation, although it is expected that the government will pay for all the infected children, not only those from poor families.

Apart from Anhui, many provinces have also reported HFMD cases. It's hoped that more governments will make a public commitment to pay for medical bills as Anhui has done.

The Beijing News

Stop Milking Tourists

The National Development and Reform Commission announced at the end of April that in the coming year, the state would make efforts to regulate the ticket prices in scenic spots around the country. During this period of time, apart from the admission fee, charges for cable cars, hunting cars and boats within scenic spots are not allowed to be raised. Ticket prices that are believed to be excessively high must also be reduced to a reasonable level.

According to the announcement, in no way will current admission fees be allowed to rise and only price reduction is allowed. This regulation is really necessary. Ticket prices in most of China's scenic spots are not affordable to average citizens. It is believed that by charging high admission fees in scenic spots, local governments or operators are taking advantage of large numbers of visitors. In some cases, travel agencies and tourist guides receive kickbacks from operators of scenic spots if they can bring in more people. The large profits available induces many scenic spots to operate in a way that results in huge damage to the fragile ecological system and valuable historical heritage of these spots, and tourists are forced to pay high prices for poor services in most cases.

The new regulation is expected to cut unreasonable fees and make scenic spots financially accessible to the ordinary people. This is also a step toward protecting China's tourism market in the long term.

Guangzhou Daily

Smokers Must Consider Others

Since May 1, Beijing's new smoking ban began to take effect. Restrictions are imposed on 10 kinds of indoor public places, such as hotels, offices, holiday resorts and all indoor areas of medical facilities. It is also stipulated that violators will face fines.

However, since the ban came into force, no one has yet been fined. In most cases, supervisors choose to persuade smokers by informing them of the harm smoking does to both smokers and people around them.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, China has about 350 million smokers, or about a quarter of its population. At the same time, 540 million non-smokers are affected by secondhand smoke, 100,000 of whom die of smoking-related diseases every year.

As far as individual lifestyle is concerned, non-smokers are tolerant of smoking, but the right of smoking must be restricted. In no way should smokers deprive non-smokers' right of breathing fresh air. That's why the legal ban is now in force instead of moral education alone.

Smokers are free to smoke at home or non-public areas, but they must realize that the world belongs to both smokers and non-smokers.

It's true that many smokers regard smoking as part of their life and it's not easy to change this habit, but in a modern world where people are increasingly connected with each other, to restrict smoking in public areas is a must.

Workers' Daily