The representatives, including a farmer, a migrant worker, a rural doctor and a community worker, were invited to Zhongnanhai, the central leadership compound in downtown Beijing, on January 25. Some details of the meeting were made public on Sunday.
At the meeting, Wen said, "Ordinary people are in the best place to evaluate government's work, and listening to public opinion will allow us to know how government policies are carried out at grass-roots level, and what difficulties people are facing."
Liu Hongwei, a farmer from northeastern Heilongjiang province, suggested that government increases investment in agricultural water conservancy projects in case of natural disasters such as severe drought this winter in north China.
Wen said this year the government would invest more in water conservancy while starting retrofitting the grid in rural areas to guarantee electricity supply for both residential consumption and irrigation of crops.
Wen also assured Liu that the government would raise purchasing price of grains so as to protect the interests of grain farmers.
Xie Yuanli, an electric welder from northeastern Jilin province, expressed his wish that governments give greater support and care to industrial workers.
Dong Zhiping, a migrant worker working on construction site in central Hunan province, complained that some enterprise owners refuse to pay migrant workers insurance against work-related injuries, and many migrant workers are not aware of their rights.
"once a worker gets injured, his family would suffer grave financial difficulties without the insurance cover," Dong said.
Wen said the government was working on the issue, such as promoting better implementation of government regulations on workplace injury-related insurance, which became effective in 2003.
The meeting also touched upon issues of favorable policies to small and medium-sized enterprises, fair treatment of village doctors, stronger support to facilities for senior citizens, boosting space science and technology and improving vocational training, among others.
The drafts of the 12th five-year program, or the national development plan for 2011 to 2015, and the government work report will be delivered for review early next month at a plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature.
