25 years of building ATLC - SSCĐ commune and ward bases: Firmly winning the hearts of the people

(Baonghean) - 25 years ago, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee issued Directive No. 83-CT/TU dated July 17, 1991 on continuing to build safe and combat-ready communes and wards. This Directive, along with a series of directive documents from the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee, has become a "compass" for localities and units in the province to build a comprehensively strong base, a safe and combat-ready cluster, linking economic development with national defense and security tasks.

25 years ago, when mentioning the border district of Ky Son, people immediately thought of a poor, backward area, the capital of opium, a hot spot for security and defense in the border area. At that time, when the whole country had fallen silent, in Ky Son, guns were still going off, blood and tears of soldiers were still shed in peacetime. Bandits from across the border increased their activities, causing instability in national defense, politics and economy. In that situation, Ky Son district thoroughly grasped two strategic tasks: building and protecting the Fatherland, synchronously implementing policies and solutions to improve the quality of the grassroots political system, propagating and mobilizing all classes of people to eliminate opium, limiting illegal migration to Laos; Strengthening the Vietnam - Laos relationship, building a peaceful and friendly border, ensuring border peace, domestic stability... With the help of the provincial armed forces, military regions and the consensus of the people of all ethnic groups, Ky Son border district has gradually become peaceful and developed, becoming a bright spot of Nghe An province in building a strong and comprehensive base of communes, wards and towns, a safe cluster that is self-sufficient and ready to fight.

Officers and soldiers of the Provincial Military Command help people harvest rice to escape the flood.

Comrade Vi Hoe, who had a long time serving as the Commander of the District Military Command, and is now the Secretary of the Ky Son District Party Committee, affirmed that Ky Son's way of doing things is to rely on the people and build a solid people's heart. Thanks to actively staying close to the people and villages, the armed forces as well as the local authorities of Ky Son district have promptly detected and handled incidents in the border villages. Also thanks to relying on the people, the Party and State's policies and guidelines have been promptly propagated and disseminated. Currently, in addition to building a regular, modern armed force to meet the requirements of the new period, Ky Son is continuing to effectively maintain militia and self-defense teams in the border areas. With the motto "stillness for farmers, movement for soldiers", the militia and self-defense forces are becoming solid shields in the border areas of Nghe An.

l Officers of Economic - Defense Group 4 (Provincial Military Command) guide people in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district to grow vegetables.

In 2009, Que Phong district relocated people to resettle in the Hua Na Hydropower Reservoir area. There were 1,362 households with 5,236 people living in 14 villages and hamlets of Dong Van and Thong Thu communes that had to be relocated to new places. This was an extremely difficult task for the district, because most of the people did not want to leave their hometowns and villages. Meanwhile, the villages were far apart, the terrain was divided by high mountains, deep ravines, and communication conditions were extremely limited, so propaganda and mobilization of the villagers encountered many difficulties. Faced with that reality, the Standing Committee of Que Phong District Party Committee assigned the Steering Committee for building a safe, self-governing and combat-ready base of the district, directly the District Military Command, to study the content, form, method and organize forces to participate in propaganda, mobilization, and help resettle people. Receiving the task, the Que Phong District Military Command sent a working group of 15 comrades, along with the coordinating force of the Provincial Military Command, to set up camp in the reservoir area. For many months, the officers of the working group went to and met with each family, grasped the thoughts and aspirations of the people and understood the difficulties of the villagers.

The proposed plan was to build a point map for resettlement and Nong Danh village, Dong Van commune was chosen as the point. While relocating in Nong Danh, the working group invited people from other villages to visit, and at the same time gradually propagated and mobilized people in other villages such as Huoi Muong, Pieng Van, Pieng Nung (Dong Van commune), Ban Loc, Thong Thu commune to relocate one after another... With the motto "rain seeps in slowly", relying on the people, understanding and sharing the hardships of the people, by 2010, Que Phong officially completed the relocation of households out of the reservoir area, ensuring the plan to store water and block the flow of the Hua Na Hydropower Plant.

Also during the period of 2009 - 2010, in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, there were 116 Mong households returning from Laos, causing disruptions to life and creating some conflicts with local people. The Steering Committee for building a safe, self-governing and combat-ready base of Que Phong district continued to take action. While staying in the two villages of Huoi Moi 1 and Huoi Moi 2, comrades in the Que Phong district Military Command actively mobilized and reconciled conflicts between the returning Mong and local Mong, propagandized to help people understand the National Border Law, and helped families with housing difficulties. On the other hand, mobilizing political and social agencies and organizations to help the people, building 7 temporary houses, donating 30 million VND to help Mong people stabilize their lives, building effective economic models in Tri Le to help people rise up... Those actions were quickly supported by the people and the Tri Le border area gradually stabilized, people felt secure in production and economic development.

If Ky Son and Que Phong are typical examples of relying on people to solve issues related to border security, then in the plain districts and urban areas, the lesson of building a people's heart position, ensuring national defense and security for economic, cultural and social development has become a correct and creative motto of localities. At the conference summarizing 25 years of building a comprehensive strong foundation, a safe cluster that is mastered and ready to fight in the whole province, when talking about the experiences of Vinh City, Comrade Vo Viet Thanh, Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee said that the first lesson of Vinh City over the past 25 years is to be close to the people, stick with the people, rely on the people, along with doing a good job of social security, improving people's lives, linking economic development with national defense and security tasks. Meanwhile, the good experience of Hung Nguyen district is to strengthen the resolution of problems arising from the grassroots, create synchronization and solidarity among the people, promptly encourage and promote good and creative ways of doing things of the people to create a solid people's security posture.

Colonel Ha Tan Tien, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Commander of the Provincial Military Command, affirmed that after 25 years of building a strong and comprehensive base of communes, wards and towns, a safe and combat-ready cluster, Nghe An has achieved outstanding and comprehensive achievements in all 5 areas. The staff has met the requirements and tasks in each period; the grassroots political system has basically handled the urgent issues arising at the grassroots level, gathering the strength of the masses. In addition, the movement of the entire people to protect national security in localities has been increasingly consolidated and developed in depth. Advanced models and typical examples in the movement of the entire people to protect national security such as "Exemplary families of security and order", "Club of prevention and combat of social evils", "Clean commune of drugs", "Peaceful gong" ... continue to be effective. Economic development associated with strengthening national defense and security at the grassroots level is focused. The movement of the entire people to protect the national border sovereignty and security has been maintained and promoted, the political system in the border area has been strengthened and ensured. Up to now, the whole province has built 137 inter-commune safety clusters. There are 201 districts, cities and towns holding meetings of safety clusters - ready to fight every 3 months, 1 district holds monthly meetings... "Building a strong and comprehensive foundation, safety clusters - ready to fight is essentially the process of accumulating the combined strength of the entire people, building a people's heart position is the foundation for building a solid defense area", Colonel Ha Tan Tien affirmed.

Nguyen Khoa