(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-09 11:05

Control of water pollution and protection of laborers' legitimate rights and interests will be given priority on the supervision list of China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), this year.

The NPC Standing Committee will hear and deliberate the special work reports of the State Council, or the cabinet, on progress in efforts to prevent and control water pollution, and inspect the implementation of the environmental impact assessment law this year, promoting efforts to conserve energy and reduce emissions, top legislator Wu Bangguo said on Saturday.

Wu, chairman of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, made the remarks while delivering a report on his committee's work over the past five years.

"We must...fully implement the law on oversight and put the focus of oversight on serious problems that affect overall reform, development and stability, that have an impact on social harmony and that cause great resentment among the masses," Wu said while outlining the major tasks of the NPC Standing Committee for this year.

In addition to making laws, the NPC's oversight of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate is another important duty and power granted to the NPC and its Standing Committee by the Constitution and laws.

"We need to truly protect the lawful rights and interests of workers and ensure the healthy growth of children by inspecting the implementation of the labor contract law, the compulsory education law and the law on the protection of minors," Wu told nearly 3,000 legislators at the ongoing NPC annual session.

The NPC Standing Committee will also promote the building of a new socialist countryside by hearing and deliberating the State Council's report on promoting steady increase in farmers' incomes and by inspecting the implementation of the law on specialized farmer cooperatives, Wu said.

Apart from that, it will promote a sound and rapid economic development by hearing and deliberating the State Council's report on the intermediate assessment of the implementation of the Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, work reports on plan implementation, the final accounts of the central government and auditing and other special work reports, and urging relevant departments to implement the guidelines set out at the central economic work conference late last year, Wu said.

Another major task is to promote fairness in the judicial system and safeguard social stability by hearing and deliberating the special work reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on criminal prosecution and oversight for laws on criminal prosecution, Wu said.

"We must ensure that wherever there is a law it must be obeyed and enforced strictly and that persons who violate laws are prosecuted, and give more play to the oversight role of the NPC in promoting law-based government administration, ensuring fairness in the judicial system and protecting the interests of the people," he said.

While reviewing the work of the past five years, Wu said that Chinese legislators have helped millions of migrant workers get defaulted wages and shut down tens of thousands of small, illegal coal mines, as part of their efforts to supervise the government's work and promote social harmony.

Migrant laborers from rural areas, whose number is estimated at 210 million, have become a pillar of the country's work force, but they face various problems, including pay arrears, work-place injury compensation, health care and their children's schooling.

Wu said that legislators found in 2003 in their inspections, visits and appeal letters from ordinary citizens that many migrant workers' wages were defaulted.

The finding prompted the NPC Standing Committee to call on governments at all levels and concerned departments to adopt effective measures to solve the problem.

Statistics show that as of the end of 2006, all arrears due to rural migrant workers in cities since 2003 or before, totaling 33.7 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), had been paid, Wu said.

The legislators have also helped strengthen the country's work safety in the past years.

Wu said that the NPC Standing Committee proposed in 2005 that the number of major large-scale gas explosions in coal mines should be greatly reduced within about two years, and that strong efforts should be made to resolve the problem of small, illegal coal mines within three years to address the serious problem of coal mine safety in China.

"The State Council attached great importance to this proposal and promptly called an executive conference to carry out a special study and make arrangements for production safety work," Wu said.

As of the end of 2007, 11,200 small, illegal coal mines had been closed, and the number of major, large-scale gas explosions was down 46.3 percent and the number of fatalities down 65.4 percent in 2007 compared to the figures for 2005, he said.

"With the concerted effort of all parties involved, real progress has been made through the oversight work of the NPC in solving certain problems with an overall impact that have long awaited resolution," Wu said.

The NPC Standing Committee has also helped resolve the problem of arrears in export tax rebate payments, promoted fairness in the judicial system, such as clearing up the problem of people being held for excessively long periods of time without sentencing - an issue that has drawn a strong reaction from deputies and the general public, he added.