Yesterday was the 5th day of Jinhua's "Two Sessions".
At 8:30 in the morning, on the 5th floor of Jinhua Guotai Jinglan Hotel, the meeting of the Yongkang City People's Congress Representative Group was about to start.
Hold on, not everyone has arrived yet; there's still one seat empty. In such a large meeting room, this empty seat seems particularly noticeable.
"Oh, this person is definitely going to be late," someone started whispering. Everyone focused their gaze on the empty seat, guessing who would be the "unlucky one"?
Just as the speculations ended, a female representative rushed into the venue from the side door, her high heels clicking "deng deng" on the floor, audible from afar.
The female representative was holding a large stack of meeting materials, and because she ran so fast, her face was slightly flushed.
Looking at the time, it was 8:32.
"You're two minutes late, so you have to pay a fine of 1000 yuan. Hurry up and pay," a nearby representative joked.
This female representative knew she was "in the wrong," so without saying a word, she took out the money and handed it over.
This scene left the reporters observing the meeting feeling somewhat incredulous. Being late results in a fine, and such a substantial amount too, it seems being a People's Congress representative isn't that easy.
Later, the reporter learned that during this year's Two Sessions, the Yongkang City People's Congress Representative Group issued a "temporary regulation" to rectify meeting discipline: any representative who is late for a meeting will be fined starting at 1000 yuan; if absent for more than half a day, the maximum fine is 5000 yuan.
Of course, representatives with special circumstances who take leave are not subject to punishment.
The day before yesterday was the first day of this regulation's implementation, and two representatives "unfortunately fell victim." Yesterday, another female representative became the "unfortunate one."
"This method is good. Representatives who are late need to be careful. After the Two Sessions are over, we'll see how much fine we've collected, then hold a collective meeting to discuss how to use this money," said Xu Jianhua, the Party Secretary of Yongkang City and head of the representative group, smiling as he watched the late representative regretfully paying the fine.
Reported by Hu Qian of our newspaper.
(Editor: SN026)