BEIJING -- The Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) has issued a notice asking local departments to monitor forced demolitions and evictions in a bid to protect the people's interests.

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The notice said local land departments should map out emergency programs to cope with possible land dispute emergencies to avoid suppressing the public in a "simple and rude" way, which might result in malicious and mass incidents, the notice said.

Also, heads of the local land departments should be held accountable in carrying out the central governments' policies and cooperate with local governments and departments to improve relocation compensation or resettlement policies, the notice said. Supervision should also be stepped up and proper compensation should be given to rural residents, whose homes are demolished, and more efforts should be made to tackle the rural residents' relocations and their life difficulties, the notice said.

Also, reasonable requests from members of the public should be properly answered, the notice said.