After Yang Jun, a village cadre in Hongyan Village, Guobei Town, Dongxing District, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, was killed in an accident, his family sued the town government.
On July 18, the first instance trial of the case was held at the Dongxing District Court in Neijiang City. Yang Jun's family told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that they believe that Yang Jun was seriously injured in the process of riding an electric bicycle to carry out the spring straw burning ban inspection work in accordance with the requirements of the town and village work, and died in the line of duty after rescue efforts.
The family demanded that the town government pay more than 140 yuan in death compensation, living expenses for dependents, funeral expenses, medical expenses, and spiritual solace.
However, the Guobei town government denied that Yang Jun died during the inspection, saying that there was no work on the day of the incident, and Yang Jun's death had nothing to do with the town government.
In this regard, Yang Jun's relatives believe that the ban on straw burning is an important task arranged by the superiors, and the village cadres need to continuously inspect and implement it every day in order to complete the work tasks or assessments. It cannot be determined that Yang Jun was not performing his work on the basis that he did not make arrangements that day.
On July 25, The Paper contacted the person in charge of the government of Guobei Town, Neijiang City, who said that he was in a meeting and politely declined the reporter's telephone interview. Gan Mingfang, secretary of the general party branch and director of the village committee of Hongyan village, said that on May 13, the town government did not arrange a straw burning ban inspection, "WeChat records can prove it".
Family members said that village cadres died in an accident during inspections
Yang Jun was born in 1981, was 42 years old at the time of the incident, and was an only child. Yang Jun's family filed a lawsuit with the Dongxing District Court in Neijiang City, alleging that Yang Jun was elected deputy director of the Hongyan Village Villagers' Committee on March 6, 2021, and received a certificate of election from the Guobei Township Government. During his tenure as a village cadre, Yang Jun was entrusted by the town government to actively participate in and handle various affairs at the grassroots level of the village.
The family filed a lawsuit alleging that at around 7:00 p.m. on May 13, 2024, Yang Jun was involved in a bicycle traffic accident when he rode an electric bicycle to the area he was responsible for a night inspection in accordance with the town's and village's arrangements for the spring straw burning ban inspection. Yang Jun and his car fell into the side trench of a country road, causing serious intracranial injuries, and was then sent to the Second People's Hospital of Neijiang City for first aid and craniotomy, but in the end the rescue was unsuccessful and died on the morning of May 15, 2024.
Yang Jun's family told The Paper that since the end of April, village cadres and grid workers have to inspect the village every night, and a loudspeaker will be turned on on the car to publicize it. After the accident, the town and village cadres also rushed to the hospital to visit Yang Jun as soon as possible.
After the incident, Yang Jun's family communicated and negotiated with the town government on the aftermath, and the town government said that it was willing to provide 100,000 yuan in the form of humanitarian aid, but the family did not agree. The family believes that Yang Jun, as a village cadre, was entrusted by the government to die in the line of duty while performing the duty of inspecting the straw burning ban in his area of responsibility, and the government should bear the corresponding responsibility.
Since the two parties failed to reach an agreement, the family immediately filed a lawsuit with the court, demanding that the town government pay 904,540 yuan in death compensation, 380,640 yuan in living expenses for dependents, 42,456 yuan in funeral expenses, 43,601.75 yuan in medical expenses, and 50,000 yuan in spiritual solace.
A relative of Yang Jun said that these expenses were a reasonable amount of compensation calculated based on relevant laws and regulations and actual conditions.
However, the government of Guobei Town does not agree with this proposition.
According to the trial transcript, the Guobei town government believes that there is no employment relationship between Yang Jun and the town government. Although the 2,400 yuan paid by the town government every month is noted as "salary" in Yang Jun's bank card number, this is actually a "subsidy". Secondly, the phased work of the straw burning ban publicity carried out by Guobei Town from April 29 to May 10, 2024, has been completed on May 9, and only a few villages have fully ended it as late as May 10. On the evening of May 13, Guobei Town did not arrange a ban on straw burning, and Yang Jun's death had nothing to do with the town government.
The town government denied that the inspection was scheduled that day
Yang Jun's relatives also did not agree with the statement of the Guobei town government. A relative of Yang Jun said that the work was actually going on from May 14 to 16 and was not over. The screenshot of the chat of the "Guobei Town and Village Cadres Group" shows that after May 13, the village cadres are still posting photos of the inspection situation in the group. In the picture, the local village cadres went to the fields to supervise and lead the villagers to clear the straw, transport the straw to the roadside, and wait for the town government to send a car to pull it away. This work is known as "straw zeroing".
The screenshot of the chat of the "Guobei Town and Village Cadres Group" shows that after May 13, the village cadres are still posting photos of the inspection situation in the group. Provided by the interviewee
According to the relative, before the completion of the "straw clearance", the straw is still in the ground, and the villagers still have the possibility of burning it privately, so the village cadres need to inspect and stop it, "because the smoke can be seen far away during the day, so the villagers burn the straw privately, almost all choose after dark, therefore, the village cadres implement the straw burning ban work, and they have to inspect it during the day and night, and the higher departments also require this."
Gan Mingfang, secretary of the general party branch and director of the village committee of Hongyan Village, said in his lawyer's "Investigation Transcript" on May 31, 2024, that the local investigation of straw burning and "straw clearance" began on April 28. On May 13, the "straw clearance" work was arranged, and there was no clear requirement for the specific end time, depending on the situation of each village, "if it is not completed, it will continue, and if it is completed, it will be over".
According to the trial transcript, on July 18, when the case was heard, the town government organized six witnesses, including Gan Mingfang, to testify that the local straw burning ban had ended on May 11. Gan Mingfang said in court that the straw clearance work only began on May 13, but on May 13, the Guobei town government did not arrange inspections.
Yang Jun's relatives believe that although the villagers' committees are villagers' autonomous organizations, they also accept the leadership and work arrangements of the township party committees. The ban on straw burning is a very important task for governments at all levels to organize in villages and communities in April and May every year, and village cadres do need to carry out uninterrupted inspections every day in order to complete their work tasks or assessments. Yang Jun and his wife opened a restaurant in the town, and they usually live in the town. If it weren't for the needs of work, he wouldn't have been in the village at that time.
The Paper noted that on April 29, 2024, Neijiang issued a notice strictly prohibiting individuals and units from burning straw in the open air, and requiring townships and streets to do a good job of inspection and supervision. According to previous media reports, on May 6, a villager in Neijiang was fined twice in one day for burning straw without permission — first by the town of 500 yuan, and then by the village of another 2,000 yuan. The incident has sparked controversy online.
On May 23, 2024, the Neijiang Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued an information circular entitled "Neijiang City Continues to Carry Out the Work of Banning Straw Burning", stating that the local government "arranges on-duty personnel to conduct 24-hour uninterrupted inspections of the surrounding towns and villages in the urban area every day to reduce air quality pollution caused by straw burning at night." Seven typical cases of open straw burning were publicly reported".
According to the report, through the implementation of a strict ban on straw burning, since April, the concentration of PM2.5 in Neijiang urban area has been 26.4 micrograms per cubic meter, a year-on-year decrease of 12.9%, and the number of good days has been 29, an increase of 3 days year-on-year, and the comprehensive index has ranked 20th among 168 key cities in the country, up 41 places year-on-year.
According to The Paper Editor 001