Chapter 564

Back in the office, Lu Fan assigned several tasks to Su Xiang Hai and Wang Hong, telling them to focus their thoughts on work, put their energy into projects, devote their energy to the economy, and aim for a trillion‑yuan GDP, to roll up their sleeves and get things done, single‑mindedly pursue their careers, and as for other matters, those are not for you to worry about.

After hearing the secretary's words, the two felt reassured!

Su Xiang Hai reported: 'Secretary, we are currently carrying out a special rectification of electric bicycles, requiring a comprehensive survey of electric bike sales outlets, business scope, owner information, and non‑standard two‑wheel, three‑wheel, four‑wheel, elderly mobility scooters, and electric bikes. Please set the tone; we will go back and carry out the rectification work.'

Lu Fan thought for a moment and said: 'I've read the document; it allows manufacturing and selling, but does that mean it's unqualified if ordinary people ride it? Does that mean they're not allowed on the road? Checking helmets and license plates is appropriate, but whether they meet standards is the manufacturer's problem; we can't forcibly deduct and make the public suffer losses. Your one word "unqualified" makes the public more wronged than Dou E; in any work we must never target the public—we must pursue the manufacturer's responsibility!'

Of course, electric bikes do have certain safety hazards; the issue of them not being allowed upstairs needs to be managed. You should plan proper parking spaces for electric bikes in residential communities, and the public will naturally not engage in random parking. Any work must not go to extremes; we must put ourselves in the public's shoes. This task just needs to be gotten through.

Okay, Secretary, I know what to do now!

After the two left, Lu Fan began to plan personnel adjustments. The Executive Vice Mayor of Zhoujiakou City must be adjusted; this is a position designated by Secretary Tang Bing. He is likely to be punished due to the statistics inspection, so he needs to be transferred. In such a case, just find him any unit and give him a supervisory post.

As for the Organization Department Head of Zhoujiakou City, who is 'wearing the same pair of pants' as Lei Xingxing, this is a serious political stance error and inadequate ideological awareness; he must be adjusted. The Agriculture Department has a vacant deputy director position, which suits him perfectly—this post was deliberately left open by Lu Fan in the previous adjustment.

Nanyuan City's Standing Committee Vice Mayor Yang Jianjian was transferred to Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, and Nanyuan City Vice Mayor Gao Shu was reassigned as Head of the Zhoujiakou City Organization Department. As Head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, Lu Fan has greater autonomy and speaking authority within the organization system.

As for the vacancies that have opened up in Nanyuan, they should be left for now; it's not advisable to make adjustments too densely. Lu Fan plans to fill them all at once when he steps down.

Moreover, Secretary Tang Bing's secretary, when transferred down, will certainly be given a county party secretary post; it just depends on whether the county party secretary of Zhoukoujia City becomes the 'unlucky one'.

Lu Fan couldn't help but start calculating again: Is Secretary Tang Bing going to leave Huayuan? If he is transferred, can Governor Liu Linghao take over as secretary? Can Deputy Secretary Li Mingyang take over?

If the deputy secretary position becomes vacant, can I try to contend for it? Probably not easy, as Executive Deputy Provincial Governor Huang Chongzhou and Yingjun Municipal Party Committee Secretary Peng Yongchang are eyeing it eagerly. It seems that on this weekend return to Yancheng, I need to have a good talk with Li Lao and my father‑in‑law.

On the evening of November 11, the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee's public account released a situation bulletin: after preliminary investigation, Lin Dian, Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department and Director of the Provincial Civil Service Bureau, is suspected of violating discipline; he has been removed from his relevant posts, and the disciplinary inspection and supervision organ has filed a case for investigation.

On November 12, the Yingjun City Court announced the first‑instance verdict: the female defendant driver was sentenced to six years and four months in prison.

Since the incident occurred, this traffic accident has attracted widespread attention; now it can be considered that the curtain has officially fallen.

But for the victim's family, this is nowhere near enough.

Lu Fan learned from a short video that after the accident, the victim was sent to the hospital for treatment, had undergone three surgeries, and was finally assessed as a Grade II serious injury.

She can only lie in bed all day, unable to get up and walk or speak. Because she lacks mobility, she needs to be fed. Moreover, due to the severity of her injuries, her facial nerves are stiff, and her expression resembles that of a three‑year‑old child.

The victim's husband works in courier services; because his wife was injured, he spends all day running back and forth to the hospital and has had to give up his job.

The victim's brother told reporters that, up to now, the total medical expenses for his sister's injury have exceeded 800,000.

Meanwhile, the at‑fault female driver only sent 100,000 yuan after the accident and has taken no further action.

In the video one can see the victim lying in bed like an infant, the aged mother at the bedside with a gaunt face, and family members with swollen, tearful eyes, which moved Lu Fan to feel compassion.

He immediately instructed Secretary‑General Li Yu to coordinate with the Yingjun Municipal Party Committee, municipal government, and the provincial Civil Affairs Department, Medical Insurance Bureau, and Health Commission to relieve the victim's worries, and personally liaise with the Provincial High Court and Provincial Public Security Department to legally enforce the at‑fault female driver's compensation responsibility.

Another so‑called 'victim' in the accident—Captain Wang Rui of the Directly Subordinated First Brigade of the City Public Security Bureau's Traffic Police Detachment—was not so fortunate; he was settled scores with after the autumn, suffered invisible pressure, and a single hint from Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Li Mingyang plunged him into an abyss, reducing him to ordinary traffic police on duty.

On the morning of November 15, the Provincial Party Committee Office notified that a meeting of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee would be held at 3 p. m.

Before the meeting, Lu Fan specifically touched base with Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Zhao Lingyun and learned that the proposed punishment for Lei Xingxing is either a Party‑serious warning and an administrative major demerit, or a Party warning and an administrative demerit; both seem quite 'appropriate', at least ensuring he cannot be promoted during the punishment period, thus perfectly avoiding the pre‑reshuffle adjustments of the provincial and municipal levels—coming but not going would be impolite!

At 3 p. m., the Huayuan Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee convened to study further comprehensive deepening of reform, rectifying formalism to alleviate burdens on the grassroots, constructing the medical center, and implementing the forest chief system, among other work. Secretary Tang Bing chaired the meeting.

Regarding the grassroots burden‑reduction agenda, Secretary Tang Bing said: 'This work is to be led by the Organization Department. Lu Fan, with your rich experience in basic work, you must, on the basis of thorough research, establish rules and regulations, closely monitor the old problems and new manifestations of formalism that trouble the grassroots, conduct comprehensive inspections and targeted treatment, emphasizing burden reduction while highlighting support, reducing quantity while improving quality, lessening constraints while strengthening responsibility, enforcing strict management while showing care and concern, putting effort into the source and institutions so that grassroots cadres have more time and energy to implement, and definitely not do foolish things that seem to satisfy leaders but disappoint the masses.'

Lu Fan nodded and said: 'Okay, Secretary, I will quickly draft a plan and submit it to the Standing Committee for review.'

The final agenda item was a report by Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Zhao Lingyun on the handling opinions concerning the statistics inspection related issues.

In this statistics inspection, only Nanyuan City had no problems; all other cities showed data falsification, with Zhoujiakou City's issues being especially serious. The Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee recommends that, for the 262 individuals bearing related responsibility, disciplinary actions be taken in accordance with Party rules, state law, and regulations: give 8 individuals Party‑internal and administrative removal from office, give 7 individuals Party‑serious warning and administrative demotion, give 48 individuals Party‑serious warning and administrative major demerit, give 68 individuals Party warning and administrative demerit, give 25 individuals Party‑internal and administrative warning, give 15 individuals administrative warning, give 18 individuals admonitory talks, give 12 individuals notifications, give 15 individuals orders to inspect, and give 46 individuals criticism and education.

This may be the largest‑scale centralized handling of cadres in Huayuan Province, with eight department‑level leaders directly removed; among them are one county party secretary, two county magistrates, while the rest are executive vice county magistrates and directors of municipal statistics bureaus.

The most notable point is the Discipline Inspection Committee's two recommendations for punishing Zhoujiakou City Mayor Lei Xingxing: either a Party‑serious warning and an administrative major demerit, or a Party warning and an administrative demerit.

Seeing this opinion, Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department Head Qin Mengyang could not sit still and spoke first: 'I personally believe that we should correctly view the 'mistakes' of leading cadres in economic work; it is undeniable that many cities and counties now have a rush‑for‑results mentality, which is caused by the assessment system. I have heard that Minister Lu is revising a new assessment plan, which is the fundamental way to solve the problem.'

In the process of cultivating and training cadres, an unavoidable issue is how to evaluate cadres' mistakes, especially for young leading cadres, who, due to lack of experience and youthful vigor, are bound to make errors in work. We need to establish a fault‑tolerance and correction mechanism and foster a fault‑tolerance and correction atmosphere, ensuring that no one falls twice in the same place. Thus, this is beneficial to the growth of young cadres.

If we beat them to death with a stick, that would actually hinder cadres' growth; I suggest giving Zhoujiakou City Mayor Lei Xingxing an admonitory talk, so he can fully recognize his work mistakes, reflect seriously, and take heed.

Just as his words fell, Lu Fan said: 'I have a relatively clear understanding of Zhoujiakou City's problems, after all I was personally responsible for the inspection. Secretary Zhao Lingyun just made it very clear: the Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments stipulate that for statistical fraud, those directly responsible and leaders bearing responsibility, if the circumstances are relatively minor, should receive a warning or a serious warning—this is the lightest punishment, and we must act according to the rules. Moreover, many comrades and enterprises have reported that the municipal government has issued direct orders to each county‑district, and even Comrade Lei Xingxing has directly liaised with some large state‑owned enterprises, thus he should bear leadership responsibility.'

Seeing Lu Fan insist on giving Lei Xingxing a punishment, Governor Liu Linghao said: 'Establishing a direction that rewards merit, punishes faults, corrects errors, and rewards performance is the only way to forge a team of cadres that is disciplined, of excellent work style, highly efficient in operation, and strong in execution; only then will cadres know the bottom line, feel reverence, have hopes, and have aspirations. I suggest giving Lei Xingxing a Party warning and an administrative demerit as a warning to others.'

Executive Deputy Provincial Governor Huang Chongzhou was just about to speak when Secretary Tang Bing's phone flashed; she glanced at the number, immediately rose, left the meeting room to take the call, and the meeting was temporarily recessed.

At Standing Committee meetings, leaders generally do not take phone calls unless there are special or urgent circumstances.

Ten minutes later, the secretary entered, approached Lu Fan's side, and whispered: 'Minister, the secretary asks you to come over.'

Seeing Lu Fan leave, many leaders fell into deep thought, wondering whether that phone call just now was related to the handling of Lei Xingxing.

Lu Fan arrived at Secretary Tang Bing's office and softly asked: 'Secretary, what are your instructions?'

Tang Bing said in a low voice: 'You need to communicate with Governor Liu Linghao and the others; give Lei Xingxing an admonitory talk.'