Spring Festival test for local governments

Passengers wait in line to catch trains home at the Beijing West Railway Station on Tuesday. [Photo/China Daily]

Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station due to the recent bad weather, when heavy snow delayed more than a dozen trains. The number of passengers meant many were forced to stand outside as they waited until their trains were ready for boarding.

In a couple of days, sleet and snow are once again expected to envelop a large part of southwestern and southern China, which will, to different extents, affect the transport of millions of passengers heading home for the traditional Spring Festival.

It is on such occasions the capabilities of local governments to provide public services are tested.

For example, will those local governments in affected areas organize volunteers to put up shelters for passengers who may have to stand in the open for hours, perhaps days? Will the local governments provide hot water or hot food for them?

Such measures should be included in the contingency plans that the local governments should have drawn up for the Spring Festival rush, which will see more than a billion trips made in the space of little more than a month.

With China's urbanization drive continuing, the public services provided by local governments are increasingly important to the quality of urban life. How many services are provided and their quality have a direct impact on the quality of life urban residents enjoy.

For deputies to local people's congresses and members of local committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the legislative and political advisory bodies, their constructive ideas can make a difference in this regard.

Many of the proposals put forward by deputies and respresentatives are constructive, helping local governments improve public services and promote social welfare.

However, some of the motions they have put forward have disappointed people. Those motions have made local people question how they help with the country's healthy urban governance.

For cities to be governed in an increasingly humanized and service-oriented manner, local people's congresses and CPPCC committees, and officials in different positions have to better demonstrate they have the will and initiative to do as much as possible for the well-being of residents.

For any passengers stranded by bad weather, we hope that local governments will do whatever they can to make things easier for them.