The 10th National People's Congress will end this year's 10-day session in Beijing today.-Xinhua

A political adviser has urged the introduction of an alcohol ban on civil servants across the country during working hours, even at lunch, to curb the rampant phenomenon of "banqueting with public funds."
"The nationwide ban, once in place, will hopefully stop civil servants from wining and dining with public money," said Zong Licheng, a member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in Beijing.
Public money spent on banquets for civil servants reached 200 billion yuan (US$25 billion) in 2002, a sharp increase compared with 37 billion yuan in 1989, Zong said, citing media reports.
"The public money spent on banquets for civil servants each year is almost equal to the total construction cost of the Three Gorges Dam," said Zong.
He recommended alcohol be banned at receptions and working meals within the government, lunch periods on work days and on-duty hours for all civil servants.
Citing the successful practice in recent years of the Ministry of Public Security barring police across the country from drinking while on duty, the adviser recommended that the ban should be introduced to all government departments and the entire civil service as early as possible.
"The ban should also be written into the regulations on management of civil servants to guarantee its implementation," he added.
Wasting public money has become one of the hot topics at the just-concluded annual session of political advisers.
 The advisers shoulder the responsibility of supervising government performance and suggesting ways to improve.
Liu Guangfu, another CPPCC National Committee member from eastern China's Anhui Province, previously criticized excessive government spending on cars for officials.
"It costs the country some 300 billion yuan (US$37.5 billion) each year to keep nearly 3 million cars and their drivers for governments at all levels. It even exceeds the country's annual defense budget," Liu said.
It works out to 100,000 yuan for each car every year.
However, only one-third of these government cars are used for public purposes.
Officials and even their drivers have been known to frequently use the vehicles for private affairs, according to the adviser.
This year's defense budget was set at about 281 billion yuan.