Liu Guoqiang, vice governor of the northeastern province of
Liaoning and responsible for industry and work safety, has been
suspended after last week's colliery gas blast, according to a
decision made at Wednesday's State Council meeting.
The meeting, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, was convened to work
on measures to improve work safety in coal mines, where major
accidents involving large casualties and economic losses have
occurred with alarming frequency over the past year.
The gas explosion on February 14 at Sunjiawan Coal Mine, owned
by Fuxin Coal Industry Group, killed 214 of the 574 miners working
at the time.
The State Council sent an investigation team headed by
Supervision Minister Li Zhilun to the scene, and those responsible
for the accident will be punished once the cause of the disaster is
identified, according to a statement released following the
meeting.
China's coal production picture is very grim, said the
statement, and there are serious problems such as violation of
safety standards and overproduction in some coal mines.
Officials at the meeting decided the State Administration of
Production Safety would become the General Administration of
Production Safety, and the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety
would be included in its jurisdiction.
Local governments are being instructed to implement a system of
assigning specific leading cadres to watch over work safety in all
coal mines to ensure they strictly abide by safety production
standards.
Three billion yuan (US$360 million) will be devoted to
technological renovations to improve safety, in gas management in
particular, at state-owned major coal mines, according to the
decision.
To prevent major gas accidents, the government will also send
safety supervision teams to 45 major coal mines with serious gas
problems and invite colliery safety experts to evaluate the
situation in mines most at risk and formulate prevention
measures.
The meeting also heard a report by the National Forestry Bureau
on desertification and adopted a prevention and control plan for
2005 to 2010.
(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2005)