By DPA
Beijing : An estimated 800,000 travellers were stuck in the southern city of Guangzhou Wednesday as hundreds of thousands of relief workers and troops continued efforts to restore the snow-crippled rail, road and power networks.
Premier Wen Jiabao Wednesday met passengers at Guangzhou’s main railway station, where 416,000 people were stranded, according to railway officials quoted by the Guangzhou Ribao newspaper.
The rest of the travellers were waiting at other rail and bus stations in the city, which is a major transport hub that provides links between southern China and the rest of the country.
The government deployed some 500,000 soldiers and one million police to restore power and transport networks brought to a halt by the worst winter to hit central areas in 50 years.
The weather has also caused a surge in food prices, prompting China’s State Food and Drug Administration to issue an emergency circular on Wednesday, ordering local inspectors to prevent the sale of poor quality or fake food items.
Many factories, including the Chery car plant in Wuhu, Anhui province, suspended production because of the bad weather.
State television showed Wen telling the Guangzhou passengers through a megaphone that the government was doing everything in its power to restore normal transport services in time to get them home before the Chinese lunar New Year, which begins Feb 7.
The all-powerful 25-member politburo of the ruling Communist Party Tuesday told local officials to make “all-out efforts” to overcome the “formidable task” of disaster relief.
The health ministry on Wednesday said it was sending 14,000 medical staff to some of the worst-affected areas and would distribute 3.45 million leaflets advising the public on how to prevent disease and stay warm.
The army had already dispatched 158,000 regular soldiers and 303,000 paramilitary police.
The Chinese meteorological office has forecast more snowstorms this week in central and eastern China, including parts of Hunan and most of the eastern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu.