Farmland reduced to a garbage dump exposes the problem of officials' inaction

There is an old Chinese saying: it is hard to leave one's native land. After many urban villages in Zhengzhou were demolished, the villagers all hoped to be resettled in their original villages. But the people of Tangzhuang Village, Longyuan Office, Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou, are unwilling to return to their old home in the demolition and resettlement, and they strongly demand to leave their village.

Garbage is everywhere and the stench of rot is unbearable, so it is no wonder the villagers being resettled are unwilling to return to their old home; the Party and village committees of the "old" village have emptied out, and those of the "new" village are "nowhere to be found," so it is no wonder the villagers have nowhere to complain; the office "directs" the Party and village committees of the "new" village to do mass work, off-key and disregarding the facts, so it is no wonder the villagers' complaints go nowhere either.

According to reports, from the destruction of farmland to garbage piling up into mountains and then to part of the "farmland garbage dump" being expropriated, the time span reached five or six years. As this is an urban planning area, with so many things having happened, officials at all levels could not have been unaware; the fact that village officials were dismissed and arrested over this matter is a good example.

When capable people dug up the land and pumped sand to sell for money, was it that the relevant departments dared not intervene, did not want to intervene, or were unwilling to intervene? I am afraid only "dared not intervene" needs quotation marks. The most important asset of the village collective is land. The Party and village committees, as the leading geese, should have restrained the villagers' behavior. When individual villagers destroyed farmland, the Party and village committees should have thought at once of standing up for the people and stopping this behavior, which the state explicitly prohibits. Judging from the fact that village officials were dismissed and arrested, either there was inaction, or they took "a share of the spoils."

Longyuan Office has a superior geographical location. Presumably the local Party committee and government have also placed their main energy on urban development, thereby selectively neglecting agricultural development, and their awareness of farmland protection has declined accordingly. Local officials may also have a subconscious mindset: "These farmland plots will be expropriated sooner or later, so why spend great effort on remediation now?" Therefore, when the "anti-dumping patrol team," an organization that did practical things for the villagers, could no longer operate for lack of funds, the local government chose to stand by with folded arms. This shows that some officials still have problems in their view of political achievements, and things that rush ahead blindly while neglecting people's livelihood happen from time to time. This is a manifestation of arbitrary action.

By the way, the current "satellite-image law enforcement" is already very precise. Where large areas of farmland are destroyed and a "new" garbage dump is built, it should be possible to monitor it. Moreover, next to the garbage dump there are resettlement housing units under new construction after land expropriation. Without procedures and permits from the land and other departments, the construction probably could not have proceeded. If illegal acts are selectively ignored, then the land, environmental monitoring and other departments are involved in inaction.

The protection of the farmland red line and the ecological red line both require officials at all levels to act, dare to act, and take responsibility. I hope the wish of the Tangzhuang villagers to have a safe and sanitary home can be realized soon, and accountability is the most powerful weapon for "speeding up."