Chapter 400: Chapter 386 Rage towards the Sky_1
A factory? It’s wreaking havoc on the coastline.
Nie Zhenbang muttered these keywords, familiar with such a situation from his past mories. The television had reported nurous environntal pollution incidents like these. However, those were the years when he committed suicide. At that ti, the Huaxia governnt had already tasted the consequences of overdevelopnt. They turned back to environntal managent, consuming massive funds.
After a mont’s contemplation, Zhenbang asked, “What factory? What havoc? Fellows, please explain. What exactly happened?”
Though Nie Zhenbang had surmised the general situation, he still deliberately asked these questions. Speculation and reality, after all, are two different things.
The middle-aged man and the old man exchanged glances, eventually, it was the middle-aged man who slowly said: “Mayor, this is what happened.”
At this mont, not only Nie Zhenbang, but also Zhao Xintian and Zhang Keqiang listened attentively. Gaojia Town is located along the Liangxi River, which is the river that gave Liangxi City its na. More than four years ago, Liangxi City set up a developnt zone. At that ti, Li Guohua was the deputy mayor. He introduced several well-known chemical production companies and two internationally renowned pharmaceutical factories from foreign countries. The dicines produced by these factories were groundbreaking in the dostic market. This caused quite a stir at the ti.
The Liangxi City Developnt Zone is located along the Liangxi River, and the factories were also established here. The first year was passable, but as ti went on, these factories, without any environntal protection asures, discharged industrial waste water directly into the Liangxi River. Consequently, the downstream environnt beca increasingly polluted. Gaojia Town, as the first major town downstream of the discharge, unfortunately bore the brunt of it. However, farther downstream, the pollutants beca diluted and the situation improved significantly.
After saying this, the middle-aged man got down on his knees again: “Mayor Nie, we know you’re a good man, an honest official. With the textile factory scandal, you spared no corrupt officials. We believe you will deal with our situation as well.”
As he finished speaking, Zhang Keqiang on the side asked, “The pollution in Gaojia Town is so serious, why haven’t you reported it to the governnt?”
“Dear leader, we wish we could. However, the town forbade us, saying it involved foreign investors. National regulations mandate full protection of foreign investnts. If we caused trouble, we’d all be arrested. Moreover, every ti we planned to protest, nurous rogues would co to intimidate us. We thought we could just muddle through, hence had neglected it till now. In previous years, the river was clear and filled with fishes and shrimps. Now, not to ntion fishes or shrimps, we can’t even see water plants. We don’t dare irrigate the rice fields with this water. As soon as this water touches the rice, they would certainly die. We have no other choice.” The old man on the side said helplessly.
Hearing these words, Nie Zhenbang was almost entirely convinced. The crowd was filled with ordinary farrs who would not be lying. Moreover, foreign-funded enterprises have always been notoriously arrogant. Back then, if he hadn’t intervened, perhaps Audi would still be unduly arrogant.
With this in mind, Nie Zhenbang turned to the side and said to Liu Weijun, “Secretary-General Liu, call Yanling City now and tell them we have an ergency and cannot go there today.”
He then turned to Zhang Keqiang and said, “Deputy Mayor Zhang, could you contact the Environntal Protection Bureau and ask them to send professional technicians to Gaojia Town as soon as possible?”
Now, after this incident, it is most likely not a matter that can be solved in the short term. As for calling the Environntal Protection Bureau, Nie Zhenbang wanted to evaluate the degree of pollution.
Subsequently, Nie Zhenbang turned to the villagers and said, “Fellows, can you take to the riverside to have a look?”
The crowd was more than eager to oblige when Nie Zhenbang made the request. The middle-aged man’s face was filled with joy, and he nodded repeatedly, “Alright, alright. I’ll lead the way.”
From a side road next to the Expressway, straight down, it was less than a mile to Gaojia Town along the Liangxi River. Under the lead of the middle-aged man, the group took a small road on the edge of the town and went directly to the Liangxi riverside.
As soon as Nie Zhenbang saw the Liangxi River in its current state, he furrowed his brows. The Liangxi River is the main channel of the Liangxi City area. Although the river is not large, it runs through the city of Liangxi, and the water volu is abundant. Looking ahead, the entire river had turned pitch black. Apart from so floating rubbish on the surface, nothing else could be seen. Even both banks of the river are devoid of any weeds. As the water flowed downstream, the black color gradually faded until it turned green again. In the distance, grass and other vegetation could be seen on the river bank.
A gentle wind blew and occasionally transmitted bursts of offensive slls from the river surface. This made Zhao Xintian and others feel sick. However, since Nie Zhenbang did not cover his nose, others naturally wouldn’t either.
Nie Zhenbang was shocked by the scene before him. Whether in the past life or this one, Nie Zhenbang knew only the concept of extre pollution, but he had never experienced it himself. Seeing the severity firsthand today gave him a trendous shock.
At this mont, Nie Zhenbang appeared solemn, his gaze serious as he stared at the factory standing upstream from the river with a frown etched on his face. Half an hour later, a minicar arrived with the emblem of Liangxi Environntal Protection Bureau still on its body. Leading the group, Du Nianchun, the Director of the Liangxi City Environntal Protection Bureau, had already disembarked from the vehicle. Behind him, several technical personnel followed.
Having received a phone call from Deputy Mayor Zhang indicating that Mayor Nie required him to imdiately dispatch his technical personnel to Gaojia Town, Du Nianchun dared not delay and imdiately brought his team to the scene.
Just as he was about to greet Mayor Nie, Nie Zhenbang spoke: “Director Du, let’s dispense with the formalities. Have your team start work imdiately, beginning with a preliminary water quality test. Additionally, collect samples from a thousand-ter radius along the riverbank. As soon as you return, start the laboratory testing. Can you determine the pollutants within a day? Provide with a detailed environntal assessnt report by tomorrow. Can you do that?”
Nie Zhenbang’s straightforward and efficient approach to situations had beco more familiar to most officials in Liangxi City over the past few months. Du Nianchun responded solemnly, nodding: “Yes, Mayor Nie. I will produce the environntal assessnt report by tomorrow afternoon.”
No sooner than his words had fallen, a sudden uproar erupted from behind. On the river embanknt, a crowd of dozens of local people had started shouting loudly.
Looking at the embanknt, four or five vehicles had already stopped on the road below, and a group of young n in their late teens to early twenties had begun confronting these people.
On sighting a middle-aged man leading them, one of the young n with a crew cut shouted: “Gao Zhihua, do you have a death wish, stirring up trouble again? Damn it, why are you looking for problems when there are none? You’ve even brought in the environntal protection people? I tell you, don’t ss around, think about your wife and children.”
This group, they were all young n dressed in fashionable and trendy attire. Despite being respectable n, so of them had piercings in their ears. Their hair was dyed in various vibrant colors. They looked like troublemakers from the streets.
However, these hooligans, capable of driving cars, seed to have a stronger backing. At this mont, the middle-aged man, Gao Zhihua, who was being referred to by the hooligans, retorted angrily: “Huang Ma Zi, you bastards, what kind of heroes are you for threatening families? If you have the guts, deal with it face to face. Can’t you see the state of the Liangxi River for yourself? Within a decade, I fear the groundwater of Gaojia Town will be polluted. Your descendants will speak ill of you.”
As soon as his words fell, Huang Ma Zi burst into laughter: “Conscience?”
“Brother Ma, this old boy is giving us lessons in morality. We should beat him up.”
After laughing, Huang Ma Zi looked at him disdainfully: “Gao Zhihua, don’t talk big to . I don’t believe that if the river is polluted, it could suffocate people; there is plenty of water in the great lakes. What’s more, Mayor Li himself introduced the factories. It’s all approved by the governnt and even earned Mayor Li a promotion. You think you can talk your way out of this, Gao Zhihua? Listen, Brother Tiger has given his order today, we’ll break your legs to try and teach you a lesson. Brothers, let’s do this!”
The ntion of Brother Tiger, the factory, and the officials of Gaojia Town all seed to be part of a web of vested interests. With the factory emitting industrial wastewater and waste without any prevention asures, production costs were minimized. Moreover, pollution treatnt is incredibly expensive even abroad. As the factories were owned by profiteers pretending to be saviors rather than real ones, naturally, they didn’t bother with such matters. To prevent local people from causing trouble, they colluded with the governnt and local hooligans to maintain this scenario. This is their “star business.” At this mont, the rage within Nie Zhenbang was soaring.
Seeing the impending fight, Liu Weijun stepped forward. This was a rare opportunity to demonstrate himself. Standing at the front, Liu Weijun shouted loudly: “What are you doing? Do you recognize who’s here with us? This is Mayor Nie from the City Governnt. Do you still acknowledge any rule of law, any governntal authority? You’re shaless to threaten and assault a person publicly.”
Liu Weijun, having been a leader for many years, exuded a certain dignity in his speech and actions. For a while, he stunned the crowd with his words.
At his side, Huang Ma Zi and the others were taken aback. They glanced hesitantly at Nie Zhenbang and the others. As hooligans, they were keen observers. From the mannerisms and attire of Nie and his entourage, they appeared to be anything but ordinary people.
However, Liu Weijun miscalculated. There’s a saying in the street: civilians fear hoodlums, hoodlums fear the police, police fear officials, officials fear leaders, and leaders fear civilians. If a uniford policeman were here, there would likely be so deterrent effect. Yet the city’s leaders seem too remote to n like Huang Ma Zi.
Almost instantly, Huang Ma Zi burst into laughter: “Mayor Nie? Would Mayor Nie co to a place like this? Stop bluffing; anybody can claim to be the Mayor. Hell, why don’t I claim to be the Governor then? Brothers, go and smash everything they have in their hands. Render Gao Zhihua useless. Brother Tiger said that if this is done right, there’s a reward of one hundred thousand yuan!” (
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