财经金融新闻 宁夏加大拖欠案整治力度（在线收听）

The government of Ningxia region has launched a campaign to ensure that city employers pay their migrant workers on time.

宁夏自治区政府加大偿还力度，保证农民工工资能够按时发放。

To understand why this is happening, let us rewind back a few days.

要想了解这一事件，我们先要把时间倒回几天前。

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region lies deep in the northwestern hinterland of China, and it is one of the poorer regions of the country, with about 1/6 of the population living under the poverty line.

宁夏回族自治区深处西北腹地，中国贫困地区之一，六分之一人口处于贫困线以下。

It hit the headlines on January 5 with an arson attack on a bus in the region's capital city, Yinchuan that resulted in 17 deaths and 33 injuries.

1月5日，银川发生公交纵火案，17人死亡，33人受伤。

The story started off with a disgruntled construction worker named Ma Yongping, who wrote on social media that he had not been properly paid for work and that the local government had done nothing about it.

事件嫌犯为建筑工人马永平，他曾在社交媒体中写道被拖欠工资，当地政府不作为。

He then declared he will rectify the injustice by seeking revenge on society.

他称将报复社会，反对不公正待遇。

Moments later, he was to aboard a bus with containers filled with gas and set alight the vehicle that was full of people who had nothing to do with Ma's predicaments.

不久，马永平携带汽油桶乘车，点燃公交，车上乘客与马并无瓜葛。

Although such incidents don't occur frequently, the arson attack came against the backdrop of a recurring theme in the story of China's rapid urbanization.

尽管这类案件并非常见，但此纵火案却与中国迅猛的城市化发展大背景背道而驰。

Dispute over pay between migrant workers and employers have been a major issue in China, as the economy has come to a slowdown.

由于中国经济放缓，农民工工资纠纷一直被视为大问题。

So, with factory bosses running short on cash and building projects coming to a halt, workers who moved from rural areas into cities for construction and service jobs often live in fear their employers might underpay or not pay at all.

对于农民工和服务行业从业人员来说，他们生怕雇主会因资金短缺，工地停工而发生少给或欠薪现象。

And so it is just days after the arson attack that the government of Ningxia announced initiatives to address this problem.

因此，纵火案发生几天后，宁夏政府宣布采取行动加大清欠力度。

Ningxia's government said in a statement on its website that it held a meeting on January 8 to discuss ways to make sure companies give migrant workers their salaries before Spring Festival, when many return home to reunite with their families.

宁夏政府在官方发表声明，称政府已于1月8日召开会议，因春节返乡将至，政府将确保在春节前结束农民工拖欠案。

Companies that fail to pay their employees will be subject to criminal punishment, the government of Ningxia said.

宁夏政府表示，拖欠单位将受到法律惩罚。

Transgressors are to be punished with fines or jail terms of up to seven years.

违法者将面临罚款，或遭受高达7年的牢狱之灾。

In the first 10 months of last year, the government identified 27 construction companies that delayed salary payments to migrant workers.

去年前10个月，27家建筑公司拖欠工资。

As punishment, these firms won't be able to make a bid for government projects.

违规公司将无法竞标政府项目。

The Yinchuan government said it dealt with more than 500 cases of unpaid wages in the first 11 months of last year.

据银川政府表示，去年前11个月，500多起拖欠案得到处理。

That's 22.3 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

比2014年同期增加22.3%。

These involved some 10,000 migrant workers who were owed 1.48 billion yuan.

涉及农民工逾1万人，拖欠工资14.8亿元。