Chapter 346 Issue 9 (4)

During the live broadcast of "Questioning Haizhou," many residents of Donghe City entered the studio. Many villagers from rural Haizhou Province, upon seeing the officials withholding funds and falsifying headcounts, began cursing at their phones and televisions.

There was even more criticism online.

Many previous projects were local, no larger than a few districts or counties. However, nutritious meals in rural areas are a common phenomenon in rural schools across the province. As the survey noted, nutritious lunches have been transformed into "nutritious" breakfasts. They're just a mess of eggs and steamed buns. Some conscientious schools even give out some pickles and a bowl of egg drop soup with no visible egg in sight.

There are few schools that can ensure that children have enough food to eat and eat well.

This issue has a very wide range of implications.

In front of the camera, Cai Hanwen changed his previous half-dead look and said seriously while holding the microphone:

"I was deeply saddened to read this undercover investigation. As early as 2011, the Ministry of Education officially launched the Nutrition Improvement Plan for Rural Compulsory Education Students. This document is 11 years old now. The provincial party committee and government attached great importance to this issue, with funding allocated by the Ministry of Education and the provincial government. The provincial party committee and government alone held more than a dozen meetings, large and small, and issued more than 20 documents and instructions, requiring all units at all levels in the province to study and pay attention. However, from 2019 to now, three years have passed, and the nutritious meals are still the same. Seeing the children eating only eggs and steamed buns every day, it really makes me cry."

As he spoke, Cai Hanwen pretended to wipe his eyes. "Donghe City is definitely not an isolated case on this issue. The Provincial Department of Education and people's governments at all levels must shoulder their responsibilities! If it were your child, would you let him eat egg buns every morning? Also, is there corruption here? Is there any embezzlement of public funds? This must be taken seriously."

"Those who are not fulfilling their duties must also be dealt with seriously!"

Cai Hanwen spoke for a long time, looking very concerned about the country and the people.

Many people in the barrage were deceived in this way.

Barrage:

Good official! (Thumbs up)

【Bullshit! Big corrupt official!】

[I don't care if he's greedy or not, as long as he can say this, he's a good official!]

I am from Nanze, and I miss Secretary Cai very much!

[When Cai Hanwen was here, Nanze was in chaos. Outsiders didn't dare come to Nanze. Yet you still miss it.]

A war of words broke out again in the barrage because of Cai Hanwen, but the housing management still did not deal with it too much.

On TV, Li Nan has already started telling the second story.

Li Nan: "Recently, a citizen reported to our column that there is a mountain near Xiaochuan Village in Gou County, Donghe City. In March of this year, the Xiaochuan Village Committee contracted out a piece of land on the mountain to build a tourist resort. However, after the land was contracted out, the villagers discovered that the once lush forest on the mountain had been cut down. The reporter is investigating the specific situation."

A villager from Xiaochuan Village said: "Originally, this place was covered in pine trees, decades old. But they cut them all down to unload the slag. It's all just garbage and mud. Doesn't this turn it into a garbage dump?"

Voiceover: The current dumping ground is approximately 400 square meters. Villagers told reporters that this area was once planted with lush pine trees, just like the ones on the mountain, but now it's been transformed into a small hillside by piles of debris. All the trees on the hillside have been cut down. And downhill, all the trees are piled up, destroyed trees.

Villager: [These trees were planted by our elders when we were young. Now they are gone.]

Villager: [From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., that's when we come to dump the waste. At our peak, we can unload 300 trucks a night.]

Voiceover: In March of this year, Xiaochuan Village contracted out 874 mu (approximately 1,000 acres) of mountain land. The contract clearly states that the development includes "afforestation of barren hillsides," "terracing of farmland," and "construction of a tourist resort." The contract period is 50 years.

The video ended and Li Nan walked onto the stage with a piece of pine wood in his hand.

"You can see I have a piece of pine wood in my hand. Local villagers told us that based on the tree rings, it takes at least 40 to 50 years for a pine wood to grow to this thickness. But it only takes a moment to destroy it."

As he spoke, Li Nan saw Ma Haiming, the director of the Department of Natural Resources, sitting on the stage. "Director Ma, how do you feel when you see this picture?"

Ma Haiming quickly picked up the microphone and said, "I am deeply saddened by the investigation video. We will resolutely investigate and punish this illegal act of severely damaging forest land."

Li Nan stepped down, and Jiang Ningyue took the microphone. "Director, I'd like to ask why such widespread forest destruction is occurring?"

Ma Haiming: "Deforestation is like other acts of destroying natural resources. Our Department of Natural Resources continues to exert pressure and strengthen supervision, but there are still some people who, driven by profit, take risks. At this time, we need the media and the public to report..."

"Okay, Director, I'll interrupt you for a moment."

Jiang Ningyue said, "Just now you mentioned the public's report, so the villagers of our Xiaochuan Village have also come to the scene."

As she spoke, Jiang Ningyue looked towards the audience. Several villagers from Xiaochuan Village were sitting there with serious expressions. Although they were all very talkative in private, this was a formal occasion after all, so they were always a little nervous.

Jiang Ningyue: "Have the villagers reported these problems to the relevant departments before?"

A villager picked up the phone and spoke in a thick accent, "We discovered this problem in April of this year. For the past three or four months, we've been calling and reporting it non-stop. Sometimes, even the entire village, young and old, would call together, with hundreds of calls. We've also called 12345 and the Department of Natural Resources. But the response we've received has been nothing but delays and pushbacks. No one's ever resolved the issue. Finally, we had no choice but to surround the construction site ourselves, but they're still secretly dumping the debris at night."

"good."

Jiang Ningyue turned to look at Director Li of the Donghe City Natural Resources Bureau. "Director Li, has your Donghe City Natural Resources Bureau received any reports about Xiaochuan Village?"

As the villager spoke, Ma Haiming, director of the Department of Natural Resources, had his mind racing, figuring out how to shirk responsibility. Unexpectedly, Jiang Ningyue turned to look at the director of the Donghe City Natural Resources Bureau.

Ma Haiming almost laughed out loud at this scene, but fortunately he held it back.

However, Director Li's mind was completely blank. He had no idea that Jiang Ningyue would ask him this question out of the blue. After Director Li stood up, he began to rub the microphone with both hands.

"Regarding this issue, our Donghe City Natural Resources Bureau... has... received..."

After much deliberation, Director Li finally admitted it. He couldn't just say he hadn't received it, could he? However, if the Provincial Department of Natural Resources can pass the buck, the Municipal Natural Resources Bureau can certainly do the same!

"Because this incident occurred within the jurisdiction of Gou County, we transferred the situation to the Gou County Natural Resources Bureau."

Jiang Ningyue smiled faintly after hearing this: "You mean, when encountering a petition like this, we can just forward it with one click, regardless of whether it has been unresolved for several months. If that's the case, wouldn't the work of the Municipal Bureau be a little easier?"