Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 220 Visiting Local Residents to Investigate Their Conditions

Chen Jun emphasized that leaving Xindian Town is a major benefit for Wu Zhiyuan.

Because Chen Junqiang was Zhang Ping's staunch ally, his departure meant Zhang Ping lost a valuable assistant.

Zhang Ping's last investment promotion resulted in him recruiting a swindler, and this time he received a reprimand, losing all his prestige.

Wu Zhiyuan's strength was enhanced.

There have been personnel adjustments in Xindian Town.

Xiang Jing was promoted to deputy secretary of the town's Party committee, succeeding Chen Junqiang.

This is not surprising.

There have been rumors that Xiang Jing is the mistress of Deputy Mayor Cai Aiguo.

Hu Lijing was promoted to deputy mayor, while temporarily serving as director of the Party and government office.

Wu Zhiyuan called Hu Lijin to his office.

Wu Zhiyuan played a key role in Hu Lijing's promotion to deputy mayor.

Townships cannot directly promote cadres to deputy section chief level, but the township party secretary has the right to recommend them.

Wu Zhiyuan is different; he is not only the town's Party Secretary but also a member of the county Party Committee Standing Committee, giving him a voice in the Standing Committee meetings.

"Secretary Wu, thank you for your promotion." Hu Lijin knew that she would not have been promoted to deputy mayor if it weren't for Wu Zhiyuan's strong recommendation.

In officialdom, a person's promotion depends not primarily on ability, political achievements, or reputation, but on connections, background, and whether someone speaks up for them in crucial moments. Moreover, they must be able to get their word in edgewise.

Wu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Mayor Hu, there's no need for further thanks."

The organization promotes you primarily because it recognizes your abilities and performance at work.

You are responsible, meticulous, and capable in critical moments, which is evident to everyone.

Of course, I recommend you because I believe you can play a greater role in your new position and help Xindian Town do its job better.

I hope you don't feel pressured, and even more so, don't feel the need to repay a debt of gratitude.

Doing my job well and shouldering my responsibilities is the best way to repay the organization's trust and the greatest support for my work.

Hu Lijin nodded quickly: "Secretary Wu, I will definitely get into the role as soon as possible, cooperate well with you and other leaders, and do a solid and meticulous job in my assigned tasks. I will never let you down and the organization has nurtured me."

"That's right." Wu Zhiyuan nodded and got to the point, "Mayor Hu, you are also serving as the director of the Party and Government Office."

Previously, I asked you to focus on the issues of excessive spending on hospitality and chartered transportation in the town, as well as the lack of standardized management.

You've drafted a preliminary plan, and after reviewing it, I feel it's a bit weak. It seems you're hesitant to take decisive action or confront tough issues. Are you perhaps worried about something?

Hu Lijin explained, "Secretary Wu, to be honest, this is taking away someone else's interests. If we go too far and block them too much, I'm afraid there will be too much resistance."

Moreover, since you organized this whole thing, won't the other comrades have some complaints about you behind your back?

Wu Zhiyuan tapped the table with his knuckles: "Mayor Hu, a township spends millions of yuan every year on entertainment expenses, charter bus fees, and gifts. It's shocking!"

Now we live separately. Compared to other towns, our Xindian Town has several enterprises like Longkou Iron Mine to support us. Life isn't easy, but it's not too bad, unlike some towns that can't even afford to eat.

But what if you look closely at the accounts? Besides ensuring salaries, maintaining operations, and covering some essential public welfare expenditures, how much money is actually available for development?

If we exercise a little control, we can easily save one or two million a year.

With this one or two million, we can buy some computers for the school, build a road for a poor village, replace some facilities at the nursing home, and conduct more thorough research for the preliminary planning of Qingshanxia!

Wu Zhiyuan took a sip of water and continued, "Mayor Hu, are you worried that the comrades will have complaints about me?"

I admit that reforms will affect the interests of some people, and make them feel that their power has diminished, or even that they have lost face, because when they invite friends to dinner at a restaurant, they have to pay for it themselves.

But have you ever thought about whether we, as officials, are seeking personal gain and prestige, or working for the benefit of the people?

Even the ancients knew that if an official doesn't serve the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. Don't our Party leaders have this awareness?

To correct others, one must first correct oneself. When it comes to cracking down on lavish spending of public funds on food and drink, I will first cut myself.

I do what I ask others to do first.

I resolutely refuse to do what I forbid others from doing.

I'm not just spouting empty rhetoric or saying one thing to your face and another behind your back. All the officials and residents of the town can supervise me.

After a pause, Wu Zhiyuan continued, "We must use our limited financial resources effectively to benefit the people, rather than wasting them on drinking and partying."

If we save a little, the people can benefit more.

I believe the vast majority of comrades understand this principle and will support it.

……

As required by his superiors, Wu Zhiyuan went to the village to stay and work alongside the villagers, observing their conditions, listening to their voices, solving their problems, and warming their hearts.

Instead of choosing a village in the suburbs with relatively better conditions, Wu Zhiyuan took the initiative to ask to go to the most remote ancient tree village in the town.

"Secretary Wu, Gushu Village is too far away, the road is difficult to travel, and the living conditions are poor."

"Why don't you go to Qingshanxia Village instead? You can take a look at the preliminary work on the scenic area." Hu Lijing suggested.

Wu Zhiyuan waved his hand: "If you're going to work in a certain place, work in the most difficult one. How can you say you have a clear understanding of the situation if you don't know the real conditions at the grassroots level?"

Gushu Village is located in the southwest corner of Xindian Town, at the junction of two provinces and three counties. It is surrounded by mountains and has inconvenient transportation.

The village's name comes from the ancient ginkgo tree at the village entrance, which is said to have been planted during the Tang Dynasty and requires seven or eight people to encircle.

The village has more than 300 households scattered in the mountain valleys. Most of them live in tile-roofed houses, with fewer multi-story buildings and some thatched huts.

Wu Zhiyuan packed a few changes of clothes and toiletries, took a backpack, and rode his motorcycle to Gushu Village.

Village Party Branch Secretary Chen Chuangui and Village Committee Director Li Youfu greeted them at the entrance of the village office.

The village office consisted of only a few tiled houses and a dilapidated courtyard.

Chen Chuangui arranged for Wu Zhiyuan to stay at villager Li Dajiang's house this time.

Li Dajiang is in his fifties and works as a bricklayer. His wife is an excellent cook, and she is always invited to cook for weddings and funerals in the village.

Li Dajiang's son and daughter-in-law run a fast food restaurant in Longcheng City. The business is doing well, and they have bought a house in the city. They rarely go back to their hometown.

Li Dajiang also has a daughter who is studying at a university in Jiangzhou.

Li Dajiang was one of the first people in the village to get rich.

His family had a two-story building, and Li Dajiang led Wu Zhiyuan to the second floor.

"Secretary Wu, this is my daughter's room. She's in college, and the bedding is all new."

Li Dajiang was very hospitable. For the villagers, it was an honor for the town's Party Secretary to stay at his home.

Wu Zhiyuan's stakeout lasted two nights and three days.

When village officials choose households to be stationed in, they naturally choose those with relatively better living conditions.

Li Dajiang's wife returned carrying a load of water.

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "Didn't you dig a well at home?"

"Oh, I tried, but no water came out." Li Dajiang's wife poured the water from the bucket into the water tank.

"Secretary Wu, our Gushu Village is located on high ground, and there are hard stone slabs under the soil. If we dig shallow, there will be no water."

If we drill too deep, the cost will be too high, and we can't afford it.

A few years ago, I tried drilling at my own expense, but after drilling for more than ten meters, all I found was dry rock, so I stopped.

Li Dajiang chimed in, "It's not just my family; many households in the village are like this."

Drinking water has always been a major problem; we rely entirely on the old pond at the east end of the village, and during droughts, we have to fetch water from an even more distant mountain stream.

Wu Zhiyuan frowned and asked, "That's not right. I looked at the information before I came here. Didn't the town allocate special funds to Gushu Village through the rural safe drinking water improvement project two years ago to drill more than a dozen deep wells?"

The Li Ci group also received their quota and drew water twice. "Why do we still have to fetch water?"

Li Dajiang sighed, "Secretary Wu, you're talking about those two useless wells, right? Ugh, just thinking about them makes me so angry!"

"A decorative well?" Wu Zhiyuan was taken aback.

"It happened the summer before last. At that time, the village loudspeaker announced that the town had allocated money to solve the village's water shortage problem, especially for our Lici group and several neighboring groups on higher ground."

Everyone was overjoyed and contributed their labor to level the site and connect the electrical wires.

The construction team arrived, and the machines roared for almost half a month, drilling two deep wells.

The well platform has been built, the water pump has been installed, and the pipes have been connected to the centralized water supply tank at the village entrance.

"And then what happened? Was there a problem with the water?" Wu Zhiyuan pressed.

"It's more than just a problem!" Li Dajiang's wife couldn't help but interject. "On the day the water was turned on, everyone took buckets to collect it, but the water that came out was murky yellow, like rusty water, and had an indescribable fishy smell."

The construction team said that all new wells are like this because the mud and metal parts on the well walls were not cleaned properly, and that pumping for a few days would fix it.

We believed it and pumped water day and night, turning the nearby ditch yellow with the pumped water.

"I've been pumping for almost a week, and the water is still cloudy, just a little lighter in color, but the strange smell is still there."

Li Dajiang continued, "Later, some young people who had worked outside and seen the world took some water to the county town to have it tested. They said that the iron and manganese in the water were seriously excessive, and the total number of bacteria was also unqualified. Drinking it for a long time would cause problems."

Everyone panicked and went to the village. The village officials shirked responsibility, saying that the project was tendered by the town and they were only responsible for coordinating the site; the water quality issue had to be addressed by the construction company.

But the construction team had already taken the money and disappeared. Later, someone from the town's water conservancy station came, tested the water with instruments, and said that the water quality was poor and did not meet drinking water standards, and recommended sealing the well and stopping its use.

Wu Zhiyuan asked in bewilderment, "Sealing off the well? A well that cost hundreds of thousands to drill, just sealed off like that? What went wrong?"

Was it due to an unsuitable location, or was it due to shoddy construction and the use of substandard materials?

Or perhaps the drilling wasn't deep enough as designed, or the necessary filtering wasn't done?

Li Dajiang shook his head: "How would we ordinary folks know about this? I only overheard an old worker who came to inspect it whispering that something seemed off about the well pipe; it might be a cheap one that rusts easily."

They even said the pumping test might not have been done thoroughly, and in the end, nothing came of it. The well is still there, but it's become a mere decoration.

Oh, it's not entirely useless. Sometimes when someone is building a house, mixing mortar, or feeding livestock, if they really run out of water, they'll pump some out. But people wouldn't dare drink it.

Wu Zhiyuan was filled with resentment!

The public welfare project, which the government invested in and the people looked forward to, has turned out like this!

He suppressed his anger and asked, "Uncle Li, what was the name of the construction team that drilled the well? Was it hired by the town or the village?"

"I don't remember exactly, but it wasn't local. I heard it was someone the village officials found, saying they had connections and that's why the price was cheap."

"What about the wells in the other groups of the village? Are they usable?"

"In better batches, the well water is barely usable, but it often contains impurities."

Wells in areas like ours, which are located on higher ground, along with those in two other groups, have all become rusty wells.

We jointly reported this matter to higher authorities, but it was to no avail, and nothing came of it afterward.

Some say that money is so smuggled out that less than half actually reaches the well; no wonder it's difficult to draw good water.

Wu Zhiyuan felt heavy-hearted. It seemed that the blockage and corruption at the grassroots "capillary" level were more serious than he had imagined.

"Uncle Li, now that I've seen and heard about this matter, I will definitely see it through to the end."

Why did those two wells turn out like this? Who should be held responsible? We must get to the bottom of this!

We will also provide a solution to the drinking water problem as soon as possible!