Yesterday, the reporter learned that the price control departments of Zhanjiang and Wuchuan cities and relevant departments of Wuchuan had paid attention to the incident of a village official privately setting up a checkpoint to charge fees on the Juejiangdu Bridge.
Local villagers said that Ke started collecting bridge crossing fees here in 1991. Except for pedestrians and bicycles, motorcycles were charged 3~5 yuan each way, while cars were charged 20~30 yuan depending on the type.
This man is about fifty or sixty years old and claims to be surnamed Ke. He rode his motorcycle carelessly to the iron gate, approached the car window where the interview was taking place, and showed three fingers saying, "30 yuan." "That's too expensive, can't you lower the price?" the reporter asked. After hearing this, he countered, "Are you coming back later? Round trip total 30 yuan!"
After waiting for about ten minutes at one end of the bridge, with no one coming to open the gate, the reporter felt strange when a passing villager informed him that he could find the person in charge at a small house behind the Shanxiu Brick Factory. Following the villager's directions, the reporter indeed found the person in charge of the iron bridge gate keys in a small house about a hundred meters away from the iron bridge.
Yesterday, the reporter learned that the price control departments of Zhanjiang and Wuchuan have ordered the fee collector to dismantle the iron gate blocking the road and issued a notice to stop charging fees. However, as of the time of reporting, the iron bridge was still guarded by the "iron general."
Villagers from the Shanxiu Village told reporters that the river where the water-floating bridge is located is called "Juejiangdu." In the past, villagers living on both sides of the river had to take boats to cross when going out to work in the fields or visiting relatives and friends, which greatly inconvenienced the travel of thousands of residents from villages such as the Shanxiu Village, Xinpo Village, Tan Village, Dongtang, and Yangmei Village in the Changqi Town and Shallow Water Town.
Village officials forcibly set up a checkpoint.
Eyewitness account:
In recent days, our newspaper has frequently received complaints from drivers who passed through, stating that someone was "setting up a checkpoint" at one end of the iron bridge, charging motor vehicles 6~30 yuan per crossing.
A village official in Wuchuan has been privately charging fees at the Juejiangdu Bridge for many years but was recently ordered by local price control departments to dismantle it.
Text, photos / Reporter Guan Jiayu
[Latest News]
(Editor: SN047)
In Shanxiu Village of Changqi Town in Wuchuan, there is a water-floating iron bridge spanning the Juejiang River connecting the village roads. This bridge was built in 1991 at a cost of over 50,000 yuan, with 20,000 yuan allocated by the Changqi Town finance department and the remaining 30,000 yuan contributed by the Shanxiu Brick Factory, aiming to solve the travel and farming problems of thousands of villagers living on both sides of the river.
"The Iron General" guards the ferry bridge.
The bridge surface pressed into a "W" shape.
Charging for many years
Recently, after joint investigation and verification by the price control departments of Zhanjiang and Wuchuan, they immediately ordered Mr. Ke to dismantle the iron gate blocking the road at one end of the bridge and issued a notice to stop charging fees, ordering him to cease all charges.
[Charge Regulations]
"Iron General" guarding the bridge
To solve the travel difficulties of people on both sides of the river, in 1991, the Shanxiu Village Committee decided to build a bridge on the river. "The bridge body and cement floating piers were all purchased from Chongqing, Maoming City, Guangdong Province, and it is an old floating bridge. It cost a total of 56,000 RMB at the time, with 20,000 yuan funded by the Changqi Town finance department and the remaining 36,000 yuan paid by the Shanxiu Brick Factory in the town; Mr. Ke is the boss of the brick factory and was recently elected as the director of the Shanxiu Village Committee," said a local official who wished to remain anonymous.
Villagers:
Recently, under the guidance of a motorcycle driver, the reporter came to this water-floating bridge beside the Shanxiu Brick Factory in the Shanxiu Village Committee of Changqi Town, Wuchuan. The iron bridge is about 50 meters long and nearly 4 meters wide, allowing only one car to pass through at a time. The eight bridge piers are all supported by iron frames on cement ships. Due to lack of maintenance over time, part of the bridge railing has rusted and fallen off, the originally flat bridge surface has been pressed into a "W" shape by vehicles, and there is even a gap of about 30 cm in diameter in the center of the bridge.
According to the "Guangdong Provincial Highway Regulations", setting up toll booths must be reviewed and approved by the provincial government. The reporter investigated and learned that this "toll booth" did not obtain approval from any department. There was also no signboard or license hung outside the station made by the competent authority, making it an illegal toll collection. What puzzled the reporter was how Mr. Ke could openly set up a checkpoint to collect tolls for so long on a ferry bridge co-funded by fiscal allocation and the brick factory, and how brazenly this village official's illegal fee collection behavior went unchecked.
However, as of the time of reporting yesterday, the iron bridge was still not dismantled, and the "Iron General" continued to guard the bridgehead.
After receiving a 100-yuan note handed over by the reporter, he took out 70 yuan from his pocket and gave it back to the reporter as change. Then he opened the iron gate to let the reporter pass. When the reporter asked why he didn't provide a receipt after collecting the fee, he seemed very impatient and loudly said, "There isn't (a receipt)!" As soon as the interview car crossed the bridge, the iron gate was locked again.
"May I ask where you are from, and how long have you been charging fees here? On what basis do you set up this checkpoint to charge fees?" After hearing this, Mr. Ke became very unhappy, claiming that he was from the Shanxiu Village Committee and stated forcefully, "I paid for the construction of this bridge in 1991, if I don't charge fees, who will return my money?!"
Encounter:
Need to pay "road money"
Charges can be negotiated
When the interview car wobbled its way to the end of the iron bridge, it was blocked by a locked iron gate. The iron gate left two gaps large enough for one person to pass through. Among them, the central gap allowed pedestrians to barely pass through, while villagers riding bicycles had to lift their bikes around the side gap. A motorcycle driver told the reporter that he was a nearby villager and every time he rode across the bridge, he had to pay 6 yuan.