Shawo Drolma, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) from Tongren in Northwest China's Qinghai province, hailed the progress of the province's procuratorates in handling public interest litigation.

She said a report she received late last year showed the Qinghai Provincial People's Procuratorate had adopted all suggestions for its work report, which were submitted by members of the Qinghai Provincial People's Congress at a meeting in January of the same year.

Amid the stepped-up measures, 2021 saw significant increases in the amount of information on public interest litigation, the number of new cases and the number of procuratorial suggestions issued by the provincial procuratorate compared to those of the previous year, according to Shawo, who works at Tongren's water supply company.

She said the report also revealed new progress that was made in the provincial procuratorate's outreach following successful cooperation with the Qinghai Provincial Consumers Association, an exemplary practice recognized by Zhang Jun, procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), in his work report in 2020.

According to the report, the provincial procuratorate found Xining Bus, the public transport provider in the capital city of Qinghai province, failed to implement the preferential policies for the active-duty military personnel and people with disabilities. They then held meetings with representatives from the Xining Military Procuratorate, the Qinghai Provincial Disabled Persons Federation and Xining Bus to find a solution. As a result of these efforts, the free ride policy was implemented on April 1 and May 16 for the two groups respectively.

The case of securing free public transportation for those with disabilities in Xining was also listed as an examplary practice in a report jointly released by the SPP and the China Disabled Persons Federation in May 2021, said Shawo.

In addition, she said, the provincial procuratorate has also explored a system of punitive damages in public interest litigation on food and drug safety in cooperation with procuratorates at the city and district levels. Such pioneering collaboration led to the release of typical cases at a press conference in early 2021, a boost to the public awareness in this regard, she added.

Shawo also said she recently joined a group of 13 deputies to the people's congresses at five levels–national, provincial, prefecture, city and town–as well as five members of the city's people's political consultative conference in a procuratorate open-day program that included field visits and seminars.

One example of progress that she saw in the program was how the Tongren City Procuratorate handled a case involving a hunter who killed protected wildlife last year. The hunter faced a suspended prison sentence and damage compensation. As the hunter's family was facing financial difficulties, he was then allowed to work as a forest ranger to pay the compensation, which is a reflection of rigorous law enforcement with a people-orientated approach, said Shawo.

In the open-day program, Shawo also met a private entrepreneur who highly appreciated the procuratorate's prioritized and fast-track handling of cases related  to delayed payment. He said such efforts saved his business from bankruptcy.

With people's concerns at heart and dedicated services as their mission, procuratorates across the inland province actively handled public interest litigation in 2021, which demonstrates their capacity in support of the region's high-quality development, said Shawo.