Chapter 242 Return to Baihe City (2)
The group arrived at the village committee, but the front desk was empty and noisy sounds came from the meeting room next door.
Everyone pushed open the door of the conference room, and immediately a cloud of smoke floated out.
Jiang Ningyue coughed twice due to being choked. The conference room was full of people who were playing cards and gambling.
Tian Jun couldn't help but frown and said, "You guys are smoking and playing cards in the conference room in broad daylight? How disorganized and undisciplined!"
The leading brute sized up Tian Jun from head to toe and asked, "Who the hell are you? Old Wang, who brought this guy here?"
Mr. Wang said calmly, "These are reporters from the provincial TV station. They have something to ask the village secretary."
"The secretary is not here."
A man, smoking a cigarette, slammed the cards in his hand onto the table. "Bomb!"
Jiang Ningyue asked calmly, "Where is the village chief?"
"I'm here."
At this time, a middle-aged man walked in from outside. He looked at Jiang Ningyue and the other two with a smile, "What can I do for you, three reporters?"
"Let's find a quiet place."
"Okay, let's go to my office."
Everyone arrived at the village chief's office. This office was really very grand, even bigger than the office he had when he was the deputy county chief. Moreover, all the furniture in the village chief's office was made of mahogany, and there was also an oversized desk, which was very grand.
The village chief sat behind his desk and looked at everyone with a smile, "Please sit down. What do you want to see me about?"
Jiang Ningyue said calmly, "I just want to ask about the mine. The mine is so close to our village. Hasn't our village committee contacted the relevant departments?"
"I have looked for it! Why haven't I looked for it?"
The village chief smiled and said, "But didn't the mine sign a contract with everyone later? So it's a settlement. We've already received their money, so why would we still ask them for help?"
"How much did you get from the mine?" Jiang Ningyue asked directly.
"I also have one thousand. Isn't everyone in the village one thousand?"
The village chief said with a smile.
"to be honest."
Jiang Ningyue said calmly, "There's no need to lie about such a small matter, right?"
"Hehehe."
The village chief smiled and lit a cigarette. "I was telling the truth. I did ask for one thousand. But my son's house is close to the mine, so I asked for a little more, two million."
"Two million?" Mr. Wang was so angry that he almost jumped up.
"What are you yelling for?"
The village chief slammed the table in dissatisfaction and said, "Everything I did was legal and compliant!"
Jiang Ningyue said calmly, "In other words, you accepted bribes from the mine and helped suppress the villagers? Is that right?"
"What do you mean by suppressing the villagers?"
The village chief smiled and said, "Those unruly people only care about their own interests and have no sense of community. A mine opening next to the village—how good is that? How convenient would that be for the villagers to get to work? Besides, don't these villagers often go around stealing minerals from the area around the mine? We live off the land and the water, so isn't it a good thing for us to rely on the mine? Pollution and noise—what do they matter? Poverty is the real problem."
"You don't have the final say on this matter," Tian Jun said calmly. "It's always a small group of people, like you, who benefit. But it's all the villagers who suffer. How much can you earn in a year by picking up all that ore?"
When the village chief heard what Tian Jun said, his face immediately darkened. "You are being unreasonable. Well, I have something else to do later. You can leave now! I won't accept your interview."
Jiang Ningyue said calmly, "One last question. What is the county's attitude toward this matter?"
"What can the county do?"
The village chief sneered, "The owner behind this mine has connections with Secretary Han of the Municipal Party Committee. You can't touch it, let alone the county."
Jiang Ningyue nodded, "Secretary Han? I understand."
After leaving the village committee, everyone came to the township government to inquire about the Xiaohewan Village mine. The township government staff said that the pollution was the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Bureau and their township had no authority to manage it.
Afterwards, everyone went to the Nanhe County Environmental Protection Bureau.
An EPA staff member said: "Our bureau is just a unified supervisory and management function. We only supervise these departments, but we are not actually in charge of this matter."
Jiang Ningyue was dazed for a moment, thinking that her Chinese was not good enough and she didn't understand what he said at all. She blinked, "I don't quite understand. Supervisory management functions, but not actual management. What does this mean?"
The staff member laughed helplessly and said, "Well, we actually don't have the power to enforce the law. We asked them to shut down the mine, but they didn't listen to us!"
"Who should we look for then?"
"You guys really have nothing better to do," a nearby worker said. "The mine and the villagers have already signed the contract, and the villagers have no objections."
"What do you mean by that?"
Jiang Ningyue was furious when she heard this. She pointed at the employee's nose and asked, "Are you saying that this so-called contract signed between the company and the villagers is more important than the country's laws and regulations?! Huh? Answer me!"
The man was frightened by Jiang Ningyue's rage. His face turned black and red. He wanted to be angry, but was frightened by Jiang Ningyue's momentum. In the end, he couldn't say a word.
Jiang Ningyue was not really angry, she just couldn't stand the indifferent attitude of this group of people.
Hearing Jiang Ningyue's voice, the department director who had been playing the ostrich came out from next door and quickly said, "Reporter, don't get excited. Come on, pour some water and sit in my office for a while."
Arriving at the department director's office, the director smiled and exchanged a few pleasantries, then sighed, "Reporters, I believe you all know that our county Environmental Protection Bureau has very little power. These county companies, let alone us, even the county leaders don't want to offend them, and they all have to deliberately curry favor. If you really want to resolve this, you'll have to contact the city leaders."
Finally, the few people left the county environmental protection bureau and went to the center of Baihe City - Chengnan District.
On the way, Jiang Ningyue glanced at the time and said, "It's half past four. We probably won't be able to go back today. Let's find a place to eat and stay here tonight."
The other two naturally agreed, and Luo Yuan started booking a hotel on the way. This hotel is next to Baihe River and has a city river view room.
After parking the car in the hotel parking lot, they went to the front desk and asked the staff, "Are there any special restaurants near our hotel?"
“Yes.”
The lady at the front desk smiled and recommended, "The most unique restaurant in Baihe City is the underwater restaurant."
"A restaurant in the water?"
Jiang Ningyue and Tian Jun looked at each other.
As the name suggests, underwater restaurants are ships and floating facilities that provide catering services on rivers and seas. These facilities are docked on the water, and large amounts of sewage are directly dumped into the water, causing serious water pollution.
There is no doubt that this kind of underwater restaurant is illegal and against regulations. I didn't expect there is such a place in Baihe City. I must experience it.
"Where is this underwater restaurant?"
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