Local response to five major questions: Villagers illegally built a floating bridge and a family of 18 have been sentenced. Villagers | Follow up. From Zhenlin Village | Questions

Recently, the news that villagers from Zhenlin Village, Wafang Town, Taonan City, Baicheng City, Jilin Province, who built a bridge without permission, have been sentenced has attracted attention. Villager Huang Deyi organized his family to build a floating bridge on the Tao'er River, with a fee of 4 years. In 2018, the local water conservancy bureau punished and forced Huang Deyi to demolish the floating bridge on the grounds of illegal bridge construction. In 2019, Huang Deyi was sentenced to two years in prison and suspended for two years in the first instance by the People's Court of Taonan City, and 17 others were also sentenced separately.

On the morning of the 7th, Liu Yang, Deputy Mayor of Taonan City, Liu Hongbo, Director of Taonan Water Resources Bureau, and relevant officials of Taonan Transportation Bureau were interviewed by CCTV reporters and answered questions from Huang Deyi and the villagers one by one.

Question 1: Why is it not allowed for Huang Deyi to self raise funds to build a bridge?

Liu Hongbo, Director of the Water Resources Bureau of Taonan City, said that according to Article 38 of the Water Law of the People's Republic of China, the construction of bridges, docks, and other structures and structures that block, cross, or face rivers within the scope of river management, as well as the laying of cross river pipelines and cables, shall comply with the national flood control standards and other relevant technical requirements. The engineering construction plan shall be submitted to the relevant water administrative department for review and approval in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Flood Control Law.

"Huang Deyi's construction of a floating bridge has not been approved by the water administration department, and we cannot guarantee the safety of the bridge. Therefore, we will punish it in accordance with the law and require him to dismantle it on his own," Liu Hongbo said.

Question 2: Why is it forced to demolish after being fined three times?

According to Huang Deyi, after the bridge was built, the water conservancy department fined him and he continued to operate after paying the money.

"We require him to demolish illegal buildings and restore the original appearance of the river within the prescribed period. Every time they fail to demolish them within the prescribed time limit, we have punished them in accordance with the law, and every time we require them to demolish, there is no situation where the administrative law enforcement is completed but the bridge is not demolished." Liu Hongbo said, "But after a period of time, he built a bridge again in his original position. We found or received reports from the public during our inspections, so we continue to impose administrative penalties on him."

Question 3: Was convicted of provoking and causing trouble for collecting a bridge toll of 52950 yuan, where does the amount come from? Why reject Huang Deyi's appeal?

Regarding the issue of case investigation, the Taonan Municipal Government stated that it is inconvenient to provide too much explanation during the trial process. However, the Baicheng Intermediate People's Court registered and filed the case on June 29th, and it is currently under review.

Question 4: When will the difficulty of villagers crossing the river be solved?

Regarding this, Liu Yang, Deputy Mayor of Taonan City, stated that since the 13th Five Year Plan, Taonan City has fully considered the demands of people's livelihood and actual needs, investing 217 million yuan to build 31 bridges with a total length of 2.9 kilometers. This year, two bridges are under construction.

"But our work must have a ranking, like in Zhenlin Village, it's just for the convenience of going to Baicheng. The demand for agriculture is not strong, and in recent years, the permanent population has not been very large, so we move towards the back row." Liu Yang said.

Meanwhile, Liu Yang introduced that Taonan City has planned a highway bridge located in front of the Manchu Dai Bridge and the Zhenxi Bridge, and it has been included in the 14th Five Year Plan. After the completion of this bridge, it is more than 20 kilometers away from Zhenlin Village.

Question 5: How did the villagers cross the river before the new bridge was built?

Liu Yang said that in response to the issues reflected in the "Huang Deyi Private Floating Bridge Incident", Taonan City has conducted a special investigation and research, and has decided to build a convenient bridge near Zhenlin Village in the near future, striving to complete the construction before the autumn harvest. At the same time, Taonan City will further improve the transportation network and demonstrate the design of road bridges near Zhenlin Village.

Journalist's on-site visits:

"Getting close to Baicheng" is almost the villagers' greatest desire for the bridge

Yue Guoyou runs the only small shop in Zhenlin Village, Wafang Town. In order to save purchasing costs, he chooses to take a detour to Baicheng City to purchase, 3-5 times a week.

"Although we are closer to Taonan City, Baicheng is a prefecture level city with low purchase prices, so even if we go a little further, I will go to Baicheng to purchase," said Yue Guoyou. From Zhenlin Village to Baicheng, he will take the Zhenxi Bridge to cross the river.

"Our journey to Zhenxi Bridge is nearly 35 kilometers, and then we will detour to Baicheng City. We will walk an additional 70 kilometers in one direction, and each time we purchase goods, we will walk an additional 140 kilometers." Yue Guoyou said "walk an additional 140 kilometers", which is compared to before the demolition of Huang Deyi's floating bridge. From "walking in a straight line" to taking a detour, it will cost him an additional amount of expenses. "Based on my truck's fuel cost of 1 yuan per kilometer, I have to spend an extra 500-700 yuan per week on the road."

Yue Guoyou introduces the route around the river to the reporter

Several iron boats used by Huang Deyi to build bridges were thrown onto the open land in the village. The hull sizes were 8 meters long and 3 meters wide, as well as 8 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. The steel plates were about 5 millimeters thick. "Back then, welding these ships cost around 10000 yuan each, and 13 ships cost over 130000 yuan." According to Huang Deyi, he took most of the money for welding and building bridges himself, while the rest was raised by relatives and some loans. Because there are many people involved in the bridge repair, we arranged for everyone to take turns charging fees on the bridge. There is no mandatory fee standard, and many nearby villagers do not need to pay when crossing the bridge.

"My brother and nephew, along with more than a dozen people, have all participated in the construction of the bridge. It was spontaneous and without any wages, I couldn't pay any wages, so I collected some tolls, but it was not mandatory. If you were willing to pay, you could give it, and if you didn't, you could also make concessions." Huang Deyi denied the statement in the judgment that "a total of 52950 yuan was collected for tolls and bridge tolls".

"If you give me some money, everyone is willing to leave. You can give me as much as you want, you can give me 5 yuan for a car, and 2 or 1 yuan for a small car. I haven't given much money," said villager Li.

Huang Deyi's ship has been rusted and spotted

Huang Deyi said that due to the lack of mandatory fees, his and his relatives' costs were confiscated, and everyone's lives are not doing well now. "I used to be a teacher, but now I have no job left and can only work outside," Huang Deyi said.

The reporter walked in Zhenlin Village for half a day, and there were few villagers walking on the village road. Yue Guoyou's grandfather was once the village chief of Zhenlin Village. He said that when the population of Zhenlin Village was at its peak, it reached over 100 households. Now, there are only about 20 permanent residents left, and most of the remaining villagers work for agriculture in the village.

"As far as we know, there is no land in Anquan Village across from the villagers of Zhenlin Village. Anquan Village has over 20 hectares of land in Zhenlin Village," confirmed Liu Yang, Deputy Mayor of Taonan City.

"Going to Baicheng nearby" is almost the greatest desire of the villagers in Zhenlin Village for the bridge now.