Chapter 32: Family Planning Inspection Meeting

In the afternoon, Zheng Shiguang suddenly notified that an evening meeting of the township's two committees would be held to discuss the current family planning work. As a result, Wang Jian, who had originally planned to have dinner and chat with Du Xiaobei, had to cancel it temporarily.

The central focus of Xianhe Township's work was family planning. On one hand, family planning was a one-vote veto issue, and the promotion of the township's main leaders was closely tied to the family planning work. Although doing well in family planning did not guarantee a promotion, doing poorly would certainly prevent one. If the family planning work was particularly poor, the township party secretary and township head would be dismissed. On the other hand, a portion of the township's financial income came from fines for over-quota births, which required significant effort to collect. Therefore, family planning work was a year-round task.

The current head of the Xianhe Township Family Planning Office was Gao Rongmei, a young family planning official who was promoted shortly after Zhang Zeguang arrived. It was rumored that there was an ambiguous relationship between Gao Rongmei and Zhang Zeguang; otherwise, she would not have been promoted from a regular family planning official to the head of the office. After Gao Rongmei became the head, many people were dissatisfied, and the two deputy heads were particularly at odds with her, creating a chaotic atmosphere in the office. The family planning work, which had been advanced, became lagging. However, due to Zhang Zeguang's support, no one held her accountable.

After Zhang Zeguang's death, Gao Rongmei lost her backing, and no one in the family planning office listened to her, causing the family planning work to deteriorate even further. At this time, Zheng Shiguang was only temporarily in charge and could not easily reassign personnel, so he had the deputy township head in charge of family planning, Li Xiangshan, sit in the office to help Gao Rongmei manage the situation. Despite this, the lagging state of the family planning work did not change.

Now that Zheng Shiguang had officially taken over as the township party secretary, it was necessary to intensify efforts to study the family planning work. Li Xiangshan and Gao Rongmei first came to Zheng Shiguang's office to report on the family planning situation.

"Secretary Zheng, it's time for the semi-annual evaluation. We need to prepare for the inspection!" Li Xiangshan said, standing in front of Zheng Shiguang.

The family planning inspection was the most tense and headache-inducing task for the township government. During this period, all township officials were on high alert, with personnel stationed at village entrances to closely monitor the inspection team's entry into the village, ensuring that no over-quota births were discovered.

Zheng Shiguang looked at Li Xiangshan and Gao Rongmei and said, "How is the family planning office preparing? We must ensure that we do not lose any points in the software, or else don't blame the party committee for taking action!"

The "software" referred to various inspection forms and family planning certificates, which the higher authorities would check for standardization. The "hardware" referred to the effective control of over-quota births. When Zheng Shiguang mentioned taking action, Gao Rongmei's heart sank, as it was clearly directed at her.

"The software is almost ready. Now, the main issue is how to prepare for the inspection. Households with over-quota births should not be allowed to return to the village in the near future!" Li Xiangshan said, looking at Zheng Shiguang.

"Let's discuss it after the evening meeting of the two committees!" Zheng Shiguang said absentmindedly, and Gao Rongmei could sense his dissatisfaction with the family planning office.

The two left Zheng Shiguang's office and glanced at Wang Jian's office. They should have reported the family planning work to him, but Li Xiangshan hesitated and left, and Gao Rongmei did not suggest reporting to Wang Jian.

Wang Jian only found out about the evening meeting to discuss family planning just before the end of the workday. This made him somewhat angry, as he did not know whether it was Zheng Shiguang's decision or a suggestion from other members of the two committees. No one had informed him in advance, treating him like a regular member of the two committees. As the second-in-command of the township, he felt he deserved more respect.

Although he was upset, he could not show it. Wang Jian did not yet have the authority or status to do so and had to endure it for now, waiting until he was firmly established as the township head before taking action.

Sitting for a while, Wang Jian thought of Gao Rongmei. He did not have a deep impression of her, as the family planning office was not in the township government compound and had its own office location. Gao Rongmei rarely came to the township government, and their interactions were limited to brief greetings. Moreover, she had a close relationship with Zhang Zeguang and looked down on others, leaving no good impression on Wang Jian.

Gao Rongmei's poor performance and loss of backing made her position precarious. She had not taken any action, and this time, she knew about the meeting on family planning but did not come to report to him, clearly not taking him seriously.

He called Du Xiaobei and asked her for some materials on family planning. After reading for a while, he thought about calling Gao Rongmei to understand the situation but decided against it. He thought Zheng Shiguang might not like her, and if he called her and then asked him to protect her, it would put him in a difficult position. It was better to ignore her and let her deal with it herself.

Li Xiangshan, the deputy township head in charge of family planning, was in his thirties and had a general relationship with Wang Jian. He did not come to report on the family planning work. Li Xiangshan was originally part of Li Jiarong's group, while Zheng Shiguang was part of Zhang Zeguang's group, creating some tension between them. Both Li Xiangshan and Gao Rongmei lacked foresight and did not seek to align with Wang Jian, choosing new backers.

After some thought, Wang Jian decided that these two were already marked by Zheng Shiguang, and it would be unwise to bring them into his fold. Instead, he would use them as pawns to give to Zheng Shiguang and then take the opportunity to arrange for some of his own people, which seemed more advantageous.

At 7 PM, the expanded meeting of the township's two committees was held. In the township, there was no concept of regular working hours, and sometimes meetings were held late into the night to discuss work. Everyone was accustomed to this and did not complain, gathering in the township party committee meeting room to prepare for the meeting.

The expanded meeting of the township's two committees included the general branch secretaries of the work zones and the head of the family planning office, as well as deputy section-level officials who were not members of the two committees. The general branch secretaries of the work zones were between the township party committee and the village party branches, managing several villages. They were usually rural officials not on the payroll, but sometimes township employees were appointed. Lu Fang was both the secretary of Xinhé Village and the general branch secretary of the Xinhé work zone, giving him considerable authority.

In the past, meeting participants would arrive at the meeting room first, and the township party secretary and township head would enter after everyone was seated. Today was no different, and Wang Jian first went to Zheng Shiguang's office to talk for a while before joining him in the meeting room. After the first and second-in-charge arrived, the meeting began.

Wang Jian chaired the meeting, and Li Xiangshan first introduced the current situation of family planning and explained the requirements of the city family planning commission's inspection team, outlining the necessary preparations. After Li Xiangshan finished, Zheng Shiguang spoke.

"This family planning inspection is very important. All personnel must take it seriously and prepare thoroughly. Our township's family planning work has been lagging behind other townships. If we perform poorly in this inspection, we will definitely be under close management by the end of the year. Deputy Township Head Li and the family planning office must work overtime to prepare. If there are any mistakes during the inspection, regardless of who is responsible, we will hold them accountable!" Zheng Shiguang said sternly.

Gao Rongmei was somewhat frightened, and Li Xiangshan's face was not pleasant. Zheng Shiguang's harsh words clearly indicated his dissatisfaction with their work.

After Zheng Shiguang finished, Wang Jian said, "Secretary Zheng has set strict requirements for our work. If anyone has any opinions or suggestions, please share them."

The meeting became a bit chaotic, and the organizational committee member, Zheng Qingzhi, spoke up, "I hope the family planning office can distribute the inspection points to everyone, so we can prepare accordingly. In the past, the family planning office has not done this well, and I would like to remind them again!"

Zheng Qingzhi had a good relationship with Zheng Shiguang, and they were from the same village. Zheng Shiguang was a generation older than Zheng Qingzhi. His comment about the family planning office also reflected his dissatisfaction.

After Zheng Qingzhi finished, Li Xiangshan glanced at him and said, "We will prepare and distribute the inspection points."

Then, Liu Fang looked at Gao Rongmei and said, "The key to the inspection is for the family planning office to be clear about how to inspect and what to inspect. We cannot be left in the dark and do a lot of unnecessary work."

Gao Rongmei had never taken Liu Fang seriously, and Liu Fang took this opportunity to criticize the family planning office, showing that she was not to be trifled with.

Wang Jian saw that the meeting, which was supposed to be about the inspection, was turning into a criticism session. He thought it would be better to end the discussion, as the criticism could wait until after the inspection.

Unexpectedly, Lu Fang suddenly spoke up, "The family planning office's village liaison officers do not work diligently when they go to the villages. Everything is left to the village. I am dissatisfied with this, and if it continues, I will request a change of personnel!"

This was a direct expression of dissatisfaction with the family planning office. Zheng Shiguang did not comment, but Wang Jian took the lead, saying, "Everyone's opinions are valuable. Currently, the most important thing is to prepare for the inspection. Matters unrelated to the inspection should not be discussed. Both the family planning office and the village level must cooperate according to Secretary Zheng's requirements. If there are any issues, the responsible person will be held accountable, whether they are from the family planning office or the village liaison officers. The two committee members leading the village liaison teams must also take leadership responsibility. Any problems should be reported to Secretary Zheng and me in a timely manner to ensure that the inspection is successful!"