Unstable life of resettled households in Xop Hoc!
Hoang Nguyen
(Baonghean) - Subject to resettlement according to the planning of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, in 2009, 15 households, 90 people of Nhan Nhinh village, Huu Duong commune, Tuong Duong district did not return to the resettlement areas in Thanh Chuong, but migrated freely to Dien Lam commune, Quy Chau district; of which, only 1 household moved their house. These households were then considered and arranged to live in Xop Hoc village (Dien Lam); were granted residential land, registered in the household register, their children were able to go to school and enjoy all the same rights as the local people. The newly settled households built temporary houses scattered on both sides of Sop Lich bridge, but only a short time later, 9 households returned to live in the Ban Ve Hydropower reservoir area. The remaining households also had people coming to make a living in the reservoir area. Part of the reason was that they did not have land to cultivate.
Mr. Quang Van Diep - Vice Chairman of Dien Lam Commune People's Committee said that although Dien Lam area is quite large, most of it is located in the buffer zone of Pu Huong Nature Reserve, so the commune does not have the authority to request the district to grant land for production. The commune's cultivated land fund is almost gone. The forest land also has owners. On the other hand, people in Ban Ve reservoir area who resettled here have the habit of slash-and-burn farming, while in Dien Lam they only grow rice.
Currently, the lives of the remaining 6 households of the "resettlement group" in Xop Hoc are extremely difficult, they only know how to go into the forest to hunt small animals, go down to the stream to fish, or some households rely on the money sent back by their children working as laborers in the South, or the income from raising buffaloes that are free-range in the lake area of the old village; it is known that some households are preparing to return to live there permanently next year.
Vice Chairman of Dien Lam Commune Quang Van Diep added: “Currently, the commune is still managing this population, but they often do not inform the authorities where they are going or what they are doing. Every year, they still return to receive subsidies from the commune and still contribute to various funds, although in reality, there are households that do not have a house here even though they have been allocated land for housing.”
I wonder what solutions the authorities, sectors and the Ban Ve Hydropower Project Management Board have come up with for the resettled households in Xop Hoc village? But in reality, their lives are extremely precarious.
Hoang Nguyen
