A senior State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) official
told a national work safety conference in Changsha, Hunan
Province, on Thursday that corrupt officials responsible for
coal mine accidents should be severely punished.
Wang Dexue, SAWS deputy minister, gave an example of graft
resulting in accidents: "a dangerous coal mine in?Chongqing
Municipality that had previously been shut down had a gas explosion
recently resulting in heavy casualties. Investigations found the
colliery owner had bribed the county head with 5,000 yuan (US$600)
to reopen the mine."
On June 17, during an inspection tour in Guangzhou, capital of
Guangdong
Province, SAWS Minister Li Yizhong said corruption among local
officials and even in the safety regulator must be tackled if the
country is to improve its grim coal mine safety record.
"Corruption is a major reason that accidents happen again and
again," said Li. "Nepotism has allowed lax safety
supervision."
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Li demanded his administration take iron-handed measures to stop
corruption and misconduct among safety inspectors and local
officials. "It's high time we took a careful look at connections
between coal mine owners, local officials and the safety watchdog;
these links have set up barriers against strict safety
supervision."
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Cooperating with provincial and local safety regulators, the SAWS
regularly performs coal mine safety inspections, after which a list
of mines that should be shut down due to poor safety conditions is
announced.
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"But it's usual for them to start work again after the inspection
team has left," said Li.
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On May 27, the SAWS ordered Zijiang Coal Mine in Loudi City, Hunan
to stop work but, with the backing of local officials, the mine
refused to stop production. Ten days later, a sudden release of gas
killed 22 miners. "If an explosion had taken place, the death toll
would have been even higher," said Li.
???
A campaign against the protection offered to coal mine owners by
corrupt officials was launched in Loudi last year, and in Lianyuan
County ten local officials were found to have connections to mines
and have been punished according to the law.
In Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang
Province the owner of an illegal coal mine in which 18 miners
died turned out to be the local official in charge of mine safety.
Peng Guocai, deputy head of the district safety watchdog, allowed
his mine to operate despite a lack of basic ventilation and
necessary gas monitoring equipment.
Huang Shengchu, president of the China Coal Information
Institute, said a nationwide blanket inspection is necessary to
stamp out nepotism.
???
Many cities and counties rely on income from coal mines and it's
easy for local governments and mines to reach a compromise on
safety management, said Huang.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, June 23, 2005)