Data on abandoned wells to be collected

Hebei province ordered all villages to finish examining and recording abandoned wells by the end of this month, and to take follow-up measures to eliminate their potential danger.

The order came five days after a 6-year-old boy fell into an abandoned well and died in Zhongmengchang village in Baoding.

Local governments were asked to fill or seal all abandoned wells as soon as possible to avoid similar incidents, according to an emergency announcement by the provincial government.

The announcement also ordered local governments to determine who is legally liable for any damage that wells still used for irrigation may cause.

The incident in Baoding triggered anger among the public that no government organizations or other institutions had paid attention to the danger of abandoned wells.

Since last year, 31 people have fallen into wells across the country, 80 percent of whom were children, and 40 percent died, Beijing News reported.

Yet the government departments involved all declined to take responsibility for the deaths.

The Hebei Bureau of Water Resources said it gave permission to dig wells, but was not responsible for the management of abandoned wells, according to a report by Hebei Daily. The newspaper received similar replies from provincial departments such as agriculture, and housing and urban-rural development, denying responsibility.

Governments at the grassroots level said they didn't have budgets for handling abandoned wells, while villagers who use the wells for irrigation do not offer to fill them.

Villagers can receive subsidies when digging a well, but get nothing for filling in an abandoned one, Zheng Fengtian, a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, said in an interview with China Central Television.

"It should be made clear who is responsible for a well from the time it is dug," Zheng said.

After the incident in Hebei, neighboring Tianjin municipality started to check all wells to eliminate safety risks.