Giving more time off than the designated seven days of the Spring Festival holiday for some government departments did not simply violate the rules. It has also exposed the departments' arrogance and lack of concern for the public's interest.

Xinhua News Agency reported that some government departments have extended their holiday through yesterday (they are required to start work on Saturday) and some postponed the first work-day until March 1 after the Lantern Festival on Feb 28.

If government departments can remain shuttered for more than two weeks without affecting the public, what strikes us is not the laziness of civil servants but whether or not these departments should have been abolished as unnecessary administrative bodies.

Some departments have arranged for a couple of officials to receive phone calls or handle urgent affairs. But the question remains: Why are so many officials needed if only a couple of them can perform the job of several dozens or even more than a hundred?

True, civil servants should strictly follow the rules they have made for themselves. The rules stipulate that the holiday for Spring Festival should be seven days, including four weekend days. But it is not rare for some government departments to skip work before and after public holidays.

It is not that they have nothing to do. It is that they have chosen to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the problems they should have made efforts to solve.

This has something to do with the redundancy of public servants in most government departments. Everybody's responsibility is nobody's responsibility. When several or even more people are sharing responsibilities, they tend to shuffle their jobs among them. As a result, reading papers while drinking tea has turned out to be a way for some government officials to kill time during work hours.

Little wonder that some government departments can have much more time off for public holidays than the designated amount without having their work affected.

Despite efforts from the central government in the past to streamline the size of governments at all levels, there is still a long way to go before redundant public servants in government are skimmed off and efficiency is raised to the satisfaction of the general public.

Strict rules are needed to gauge the performance of civil servants, who should be made to always be concerned for the problems within their responsibility. They should have been required to visit communities and conduct investigations into the specific problems that residents face.

Once placed on the government payroll, a government employee is guaranteed a rice bowl forever. But this can produce nothing but lazy bones.

By letting government employees waste their time reading papers and drinking tea is no better than letting them enjoy more days off at home. But what is imperative is to make them work as hard as their responsibility requires for the benefit of the public.