PAID ON TIME: These migrant workers are lucky to receive their wages-many of their brotherhood face the ongoing humiliation of being fobbed off by unscrupulous employers (XINHUA)

No More Surcharges Please

In response to falling prices of aviation fuel, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top price regulator, and the General Administration of Civil Aviation have decided to suspend fuel surcharges for domestic airlines from January 15.

In the winter of financial turmoil, it's good news to hear about the suspension. However, still there is unpleasant news about other kinds of surcharges.

According to a Central Government notice, all toll roads in China at and below Grade-II standards should abolish their charges after the fuel tax became effective on January 1. In north China's Tianjin, however, the local government has retained an indiscriminate levy on drivers for using roads built on bank loans. Despite strong opposition from all walks of life, transportation officials insisted that the charge is in line with previous state regulations and thus it will remain in the foreseeable future.

In southwest China's Kunming, Yunnan Province, gas prices dropped and toll charges were canceled. This is undoubtedly great for car owners. But the government has not scraped fuel surcharges that were imposed on taxi passengers when gas prices were extremely high and has failed to give any explanation to its inefficiency.

Many surcharges are no longer suitable for today's economic situation, which need to be canceled or adjusted as soon as possible. The move will be a great help to people who are struggling against the world economic crisis.

Workers' Daily

Banks Screwing Homeowners

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, has announced that from February 1, it would automatically give a 30-percent interest rate discount to mortgage owners who meet two certain requirements.

After the People's Bank of China, the central bank, allowed banks to double the maximum mortgage interest rate discount to 30 percent in November 2008 to prop up the property market, its implementation met unexpected obstacles. Commercial banks used various excuses to boycott or water down this policy, making it difficult for existing mortgage owners to enjoy this windfall.

Commercial banks are reluctant to implement this policy because even one day's delay will save them a lot of money. They therefore create all kinds of complicated procedures and blocks to avoid doing the right thing.

Comparatively, ICBC is doing much better than most of its counterparts, although its implementation rules come a bit late. Though ICBC is expected to see a big shrinkage in its profits due to the discount offer, the move will improve its fame and help the bank expand its share in the profitable mortgage market. After all, people will not go to selfish lenders for home loans in future.

Commercial banks will gradually lose popularity among clients if they focus only on immediate interests. Meanwhile, if struggling homeowners are not released from their heavy economic pressure, the state's efforts to boost domestic demand will not pay off. Therefore, both banking regulators and commercial banks need to pay more attention to long-term interests, and put the 30-percent mortgage interest rate discount policy into thorough practice now.

Qilu Evening News

Can We Drink It?

In contrast to increasingly deteriorating water pollution, most of China's tap water companies are using outdated technologies and the hygiene criterion that was set up 20 years ago. Recent statistics show that direct and indirect losses from drinking water-related diseases and death account for 1 percent of the country's annual gross domestic product.

For example, because pesticide remnants are found in beverage and tea leaves, mothers during the lactation only drink water even. However, whether the water is safe or not is unknown as the criteria for safe water are still a question. When toxic cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as pond scum, contaminated water in the Taihu Lake near Wuxi City, east China's Jiangsu Province, in 2007, the local water quality watchdog said that the lake water was still up to drinking standards.

It is hoped that water quality watchdogs won't treat water safety so casually. After all, water matters to the health of many generations to come.

Xiaoxiang Morning Post

Pay Migrants Their Due

In 2002, a team of migrant workers from southwest China's Sichuan Province contracted an embankment project in Xunyang County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. After the construction was completed, the local Land and Resources Bureau, which launched the project, failed to pay 2 million yuan ($300,000) in wages to the workers. Recently, head of the construction team painted a handful of posters that depict his painful experience of chasing down the arrears in the past six years and displayed them openly in Xunyang.

This way of recovering defaulted salaries reflects the helplessness and despair of these workers. In order to draw attention from higher-level governments, they have to use such a sensationalization approach to make their problem known to the public and the media in particular.

Migrant workers should contribute their wisdom to the country's construction and development. But in some cases, they are using their creativity to claim their back pay. After they have exhausted all peaceful methods, will they resort to violence? This issue should be dealt with seriously because it could impact on social stability and harmony if left unattended.

Huashang Daily