County issues 'snail' awards for slow workers

A humorous way to criticize local officials for their laziness has been hailed by netizens, who are praising it as an effective and practical way of motivating governments to improve their efficiency and response time.

On Aug 14, the local government in Jinyun county of Lishui, Zhejiang province, gave "snail" awards to two government departments that had been slow to press ahead with projects related to improving local residents' livelihoods, according to the local official WeChat account.

The two "prize winners" are from the local health commission and the water authority.

The local health commission received the "award" for the sluggish construction of a hospital, while the water authority "won" for its slow pace in streamlining their problem-solving process.

Awkwardly receiving the awards from county Party secretary Li Yibo and county head Wang Zhengfei, officials in charge of the two departments both offered self-criticism at the meeting and vowed to rectify their problems.

It was the fourth time Jinyun county had given "snail" awards since March 2018 to notify officials and departments of their omissions, delayed responses and failures to shoulder responsibility.

"The awards are granted only to those who were found to have been lazy and neglectful in fulfilling their duties," said Yin Bibo, an official from the county's discipline inspection commission, adding that the commission collects clues from the public before evaluation and checks all the cases, mainly focusing on matters affecting people's livelihoods such as road and housing construction.

Those who were named will face inspection to ensure problems are rectified before they can free themselves of the "snail" title, Yin explained.

A road construction project in the county was granted the award in 2018 due to its slow building process. After receiving the award, the project team solved the policy problem in less than 10 days, thus accelerating the construction period.

Cai Jingwen contributed to this story.