Sun Guoyou is instructing workers on how to plant sand willows in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on March 31, 2023. Photo: VCG

A coal mine in Lingwu, Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region said to continue consultations with a local tree farm’s owner over a water use dispute which they had failed to reach an agreement in previous consultations. The farmer had previously kneeled on the land and pleaded for water supply which sparked heated discussions and aroused public concerns online.

The dispute between the farm owner Sun Guoyou and the local Shuangma No.1 coal mine under the Ningxia Coal Industry Co., Ltd. caught public’s attention on March 27 after a viral video clip showed Sun kneeling on the land crying for water for his “10,000 mu (666.7 hectares)” of trees, after the mine failed to supply water to his farm.

According to the mine, the operator took the initiative to contact Sun on March 29 to talk over water supply matters and Sun came to the mine to propose three appeals including that the mine should provide him with water for living and afforestation as soon as possible. Besides, he appeals for priority for the engineering projects of Shuangma mine. Moreover, the mine has to pay compensation for his land the mine has occupied.

However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the above three issues during the preliminary talks.

On March 30, the mine continued to contact Sun for consultations. Sun put forward to focus the discussion on the solution to greening water. However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement again because his demand for water supply violates relevant regulations governing water resources management.

On March 31, the mine continued to contact Sun but failed to reach him. The mine said it will continue to contact Sun for consultations and to solve the issue of water use under the premise of law and compliance.

Global Times