BEIJING - A Chinese supervisory body has urged greater efforts to change improper practices and incidents among government agencies and their staff, according to an official statement posted Thursday.

The move should be made in order to forge closer ties between the government and the people and thus facilitate China's social and economic development during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), said a statement posted on China's central government website.

Issued by an office under the Ministry of Supervision, the statement included a list of major corrections that need to be made for government agencies and staff members in 2011.

Irregularities in land expropriation, the allocation of housing units for low-income families, food and drug safety and practices that jeopardize the interests of Chinese farmers were included in the list.

The statement also called for further efforts to correct irregularities concerning the collection of highway tolls and improved supervision of government funds allocated for public welfare projects.

In addition, government agencies should pay greater attention to the implementation of public welfare-oriented policies and continue to improve their work in the interest of all Chinese citizens.