On the morning of April 24, an 85-year-old man was selling his agricultural products at a farmers' market in Shangrao, Jiangxi, but he was charged 10 yuan by the market management before he could sell a penny. What is tearful is that the 85-year-old man only sold a total of 8 yuan that day.
Many people were really in tears when they saw this, and the 85-year-old man did not wait at home to ask someone for money. Instead, they still rely on their own labor to farm the land, and then take the surplus vegetables to the vegetable market to exchange for some money. Even so, the life of the elderly is still not easy, only selling 8 yuan a day, and paying 10 yuan in management fees. And what is even more tearful is that when the old man heard that he had to pay 10 yuan for the management fee, he did not have any quarrel with the toll collector, but silently took out 10 yuan from his pocket with trembling hands and handed it to the market manager.
April 26th, that is, today. The local market supervision and administration bureau issued a notice that it has instructed the local market property company to apologize to the elderly and return the 10 yuan that has been recovered.
Moreover, it can be seen from this bulletin that the location reported by the previous media was inaccurate. The elderly are required to pay the management fee in the self-produced and self-sold area of the farmers' market, and the property management company's fee should be justified. However, for the 85-year-olds, they belong to a special group and do not fulfill their special duty of care, that is to say, the special group should charge less or no charge, which should not be good enough, or it can be said that it is not flexible enough. But this should be understandable, after all, the toll collector did not expect an 85-year-old man to come here to sell vegetables. At that time, the people who set the fee standard probably didn't think of it, but this does not mean that there should be no charge. From this point of view, the response and handling measures of the relevant local departments are also appropriate.
Looking at many of our media reports, it is indeed a bit inaccurate. First of all, the location report was wrong, and the location of the old man in the report was not the location where he was charged. And the elderly were not charged when they sold vegetables on the side of the road.
However, the local response is only a matter of facts, and it is hoped that other local authorities will pay attention to the elderly man's daily life and provide assistance when necessary. For example, if the elderly want to come out to sell vegetables in the future, can they clearly inform the elderly that they can go to the vegetable market to set up a stall and not charge for it?
I also hope that the whole society can pay attention to and care for the elderly.