Central ministries responded to a series of public concerns in the past week, including construction of small towns, environmental inspections, student subsidies and mine conditions.

Building guidelines

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued a document on the construction of small towns. The style of buildings in these towns has become a heated topic in recent years.

The document makes clear that the construction of "characteristic towns" shall not result in undue disturbance. The construction of high-rise buildings, tearing down existing compounds and blindly copying a foreign culture will not be encouraged when building a new township.

Green inspections

The Ministry of Environmental Protection found that 80 out of 366 companies that were inspected were violating environment protection rules as of July 13.

The result came after inspections in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and other nearby areas from July 7-13. A total of 44 companies violated environmental protection rules for volatile organic compound emissions. The ministry started the inspection on air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region about four months ago.

The past week found 851 companies out of 2,954 reviewed were violating environmental protection rules due to incomplete facilities or excessive emissions. Some 131 companies were found to have no equipment for pollution treatment, while 100 companies had pollution treatment facilities that were not functioning.

Some companies in Hebei are still operating despite previous bans or warnings.

Student subsidies

The Education Ministry has responded to a query on the release and supervision of financial subsidies.

A college student from Northeast China inquired of the Ministry of Education why students were still not informed about how universities are fully releasing subsidies.

The Ministry of Education responded in detail about the component of student subsidies for college students.

First, the government helps those families in need to apply for loans from local banks to pay for tuition.

Second, if the student fails to get adequate loans for tuition, the university offers channels for enrollment where his or her tuition and accommodation fees can be paid later.

Third, both the government and universities offer a variety of scholarships or work-study programs through which students can earn money to pay their tuition.

Details about scholarships are also available online.

Mine conditions probed

The State Administration of Work Safety conducted a random inspection on conditions on 18 non-metal mines and 10 tailing ponds, which contain the by-products from the mines, in Henan, Liaoning and Jiangxi provinces during the current flood season.

Problems found include inadequate safety protection, lack of work supervision and detection systems as well as inadequate accident-monitoring measures.

The administration requested that 15 mines as well as nine tailing ponds must improve work safety facilities within a required time frame.

Another four companies found with severe work safety shortcomings were asked to stop production.

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