In the busy spring ploughing season, a ridiculous incident of "village cadres blocking farmers' spring ploughing" caused an uproar!
Cause and course of the incident
Mr. Zhang is a hard-working farmer who contracted 4,650 acres of wasteland 20 years ago in Shuangsheng Village, Jianhua Town, Kailu County, Inner Mongolia, for a period of 30 years, which will not expire until 2034. At the beginning, the barren landscape was not amazing, but Mr. Zhang regarded it as a treasure and worked tirelessly to reclaim and manage it.
Day after day, year after year, the wasteland is rejuvenated by Mr. Zhang's industrious hands. The sparse grass was cleared, and the flat and wide ridges were slowly opened. He ditches drainage, unblocks blockages, and transforms wasteland into endless fertile fields. Every year during the spring ploughing season, the emerald green wheat seedlings are sprinkled with greenery from this rich land.
Now, with 10 years to go until the expiration of his contract, Mr. Zhang's efforts are about to begin to pay off. As long as there are no surprises in this season's harvest, he will be able to save enough to spend his old age well. But just as Mr. Zhang was about to go to the ground, a "blockbuster" bomb hit people unprepared.
The village committee suddenly sent a message, demanding that Mr. Zhang pay a fee of 200 yuan per mu of land every year, which was levied for three consecutive years, totaling 930,000 yuan. Don't look at the cost of one acre of land, but once multiplied by the contracted area of 4,650 acres, the numbers are immediately staggering. 930,000 yuan is an astronomical amount for an ordinary farmer!
Of course, Mr. Zhang could not accept this unreasonable request. However, the village cadres not only did not provide a reasonable explanation, but instead prevented him from going to the field for spring ploughing and dragged away Mr. Zhang's tractor. Seeing that the spring is gradually gone, where should Mr. Zhang, who is anxious, go?
Illegal levy of land fees
In the face of Mr. Zhang's questioning, the village cadres were upright and unreasonable. They turned a deaf ear to Mr. Zhang's objections, and insisted on imposing the sky-high fee of 930,000 yuan. What's even more ridiculous is that they even explained the reason for the levy in this way: "If you let us collect money, we will collect money!"
The phrase "let the top collect money" in order to excuse one's own illegal behavior? This is obviously a manifestation of ignoring public opinion and acting recklessly. The fact that a grassroots government openly understands the decision of its superiors in this way shows its lawless and arrogant attitude. What capital do the poor peasants have against them?
When the reporter intervened to investigate the matter, the words of the leaders of the town government involved were even more ridiculous. They used the excuse that Mr. Zhang's contract fee was too low and cheap, and now the wasteland has been renovated, and the village collective has suffered a big loss. Therefore, it has the right to increase fees at will to protect the "collective interest".
The question then arises, although the wasteland belongs to the village collective, isn't the contract clearly written? Since there are still more than 10 years left in the contract period, can the government ignore the contract and wantonly demand money during the duration of the contract?
What is even more ridiculous is that the deputy secretary of the town party committee, who is responsible for safeguarding the authority of the law, and is also a member of the town law committee, went so far as to openly say to reporters that "I don't understand the law." Isn't it a desecration of his duty for a leading cadre in charge of legal affairs to deprive him of the rule of law in such contempt?
Incident exposure and social concern
People of insight filmed the video and quickly exposed it on the Internet. Soon, this ridiculous and absurd incident became a hot search and became a favorite of online news. Everyone watched and discussed one after another, and even rebuked the arrogant remarks of the village and town cadres involved who "collected money and collected money" and "I don't understand the law."
Soon, the central mainstream media China Sannong website also noticed the incident. Finding that the grassroots government was so blatantly violating laws and regulations and trampling on the rights and interests of farmers, they did not hesitate to stand up and speak out for Mr. Zhang. The harsh criticism of the central media and the supervision of public opinion have put considerable pressure on the local government.
In the face of unabated online public opinion, the Kailu County Party Committee and Government finally panicked under the pressure of this surging public opinion. They had to urgently set up an investigation team to intervene to investigate the specifics of the matter and issue a briefing as soon as possible. However, just issuing a report wants to convince people, and it is obviously a "crucian carp crossing the river" that is difficult to swallow.
Sure enough, netizens didn't buy it at all, and questioned the perfunctory approach of the Kailu County Government. They pointed out that this kind of "perfunctory" method cannot cover up the violations of law and discipline by local government officials.
"Do you really believe that you will find out?" "I'm afraid that when you finish your investigation, the spring plowing season will be over!" "Why don't you let the farmers farm first and investigate the problem at the same time?"
The doubts and urges of netizens can be described as in one sentence. If it is delayed, by the time the results of the investigation come out, the spring planting season will have already passed. At that time, the interests of the peasants will be completely lost, so what is the point of the investigation? Therefore, everyone unanimously appealed that the government would let Mr. Zhang go to the land to cultivate the land first, and at the same time carry out an investigation to weigh the pros and cons.
Will there be any further development of this incident? Will the local government be sincere to the people and solve the problem in a timely manner? Let us wait and see!