A sudden gust of wind blew through the trees, and the trees on both sides of the road fell one after another, and one of the huge tree trunks was sunk in the middle of the road, completely cutting off traffic. This was supposed to be an opportunity for government departments to remove obstacles and restore traffic order in a timely manner, but it turned into a dispute over the "cost of removing trees".
The incident happened on a remote mountain road in Guangzhou. Videos taken by local residents show cranes and garden workers clearing branches and debris at the scene, but they are blind to the large tree that is stuck across the road.
In desperation, a car owner who was stuck in traffic stepped forward to ask how much it would cost to remove the tree.
Faced with such a ridiculous request, the car owner could not hide his anger. He believes that in such an emergency, the government should fulfill its basic duty of maintaining public safety and unimpeded roads, and how can it so wantonly extort ordinary citizens? However, the garden workers ignored this and took an extremely blunt attitude. In the end, the owner of the car who had nothing to do could only call the police to seek a solution.
Subsequently, the local landscaping department immediately responded to the matter, saying that it would not charge any fees to the public for the fall of trees on both sides of the municipal road, and the relevant costs would be borne by the government. However, if the fallen tree is private or unit property, it will require the relevant responsible party to pay a certain fee.
In this regard, the Guangzhou Forestry and Garden Bureau also made it clear that trees on public roads belong to the jurisdiction of municipal departments.
They also warned the public that if anyone asks for the clean-up fee in any name, they should be vigilant and report to the police in time.
From a legal point of view, if the above incident is true, those garden workers who demanded high fees to clear public road obstacles are suspected of extortion.
According to the provisions of the Criminal Law, the use of threats and other means to forcibly extort property from others for the purpose of illegal possession constitutes the crime of extortion.
Although violence was not involved in this incident, the threat of "no work, if you don't pay" is in essence equivalent to "soft violence" and violates the basic rights and interests of the public. Of course, it is difficult to make a black-and-white judgment on both sides until the truth is investigated.
However, from the point of view of common sense and law, in an emergency situation where public safety is threatened, government functional departments have the obligation to give priority to safeguarding the public interest and restoring normal order.
In fact, after the incident was reported by the media, the majority of netizens also expressed their dissatisfaction and indignation at the behavior of the garden workers. Many believe that this kind of behavior not only lacks professional ethics, but also desecrates people's basic expectations of the credibility of the government in times of crisis.
It is undeniable that in a society governed by the rule of law, the government and its functional departments have the sacred duty to safeguard the public interest, and its staff should establish this concept in all circumstances.
In contrast, self-interest should be a trivial matter. When there is a conflict between the public interest and the private interest, the public interest should be protected first.
Life is full of disputes, but in major matters involving public safety, we should pursue mutual assistance and friendship between people, rather than taking everything into the calculation of interests.
In the face of unexpected situations, we need the spirit of solidarity and mutual help to tide over difficulties together. We hope that such a "fee claim" dispute will not be repeated in the future. Instead, the government's high level of professional ethics echoes the high expectations of the people, jointly guarding the peace and development of the city.