Movement in merging hamlets and communes

Emphasize consensus

Tang Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) has over 8,000 people with nearly 2,000 households; distributed in 9 hamlets, in which the hamlet with the most households has more than 300 households and the hamlet with the least households has 89 households. To proceed with merging hamlets that do not meet the prescribed standards, the Commune Party Committee has directed the Commune People's Committee to take cautious steps, focusing on propaganda and ideological work for cadres, Party members and people, clarifying that merging hamlets is also a solution to the difficult problem of finding people to take on work in the hamlet and improving the allowance level for the team - this will create motivation to attract capable and responsible people, encourage the dedication and efforts of the non-professional team in the hamlet.

Officials and civil servants of Tang Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) synthesize the collection of people's opinions on the merger of hamlets. Photo: Mai Hoa

The Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tang Thanh Commune - Comrade Nguyen Viet Tue said that the project of merging hamlets when put forward for comments from the people and the People's Council delegates had a high consensus. Accordingly, with the current 9 hamlets, Tang Thanh Commune will reduce 2 hamlets, leaving 7 hamlets on the basis of merging hamlets 3a and 3b into hamlet 3, and at the same time dividing the number of households in hamlet 8 into 2 hamlets 4 and 5. And after the merger, the hamlet with the largest number of households is 343 households and the hamlet with the smallest number is 250 households.

According to Yen Thanh District Party Secretary - Comrade Nguyen Van De, currently, localities in the area are focusing on completing steps to merge blocks and hamlets that do not meet the required number of households. Of which, 18/39 communes and towns have passed resolutions issued by the People's Council and are expected to complete before April 30, 2019 in the whole district to submit to the Department of Home Affairs, the People's Committee and the Provincial People's Council for approval.

"Based on Circular No. 14/2018/TT-BNV dated December 3, 2018 of the Ministry of Home Affairs with the regulation that the hamlet and block scale is 250 households, the whole district is expected to reduce from 100 - 150 hamlets and blocks compared to the current 496 blocks and hamlets".

Comrade Nguyen Van De - Secretary of Yen Thanh District Party Committee

Building new rural roads in Minh Son hamlet, Ky Son commune, Tan Ky district. Photo courtesy

In Tan Ky district, when implementing the policy of arranging and merging blocks and hamlets, a series of concerns and worries related to the immediate interests of the people were raised. For example, hamlets under Program 135 merged with hamlets without Program 135; hamlets recognized as cultural villages merged with hamlets that were not recognized; hamlets that met new rural standards merged with hamlets that did not meet standards; how to transact people's documents when establishing new hamlets, including issues related to people's habits and activities when changing...

According to Tan Ky District Party Secretary Bui Thanh Bao, with the guiding viewpoint of determination, drastic implementation in a strict and effective manner, without the mindset of waiting, up to this point, 18/22 communes and towns of Tan Ky district have conducted consultation with people and representatives of the People's Council for the 2016-2021 term. The results at 18 units were supported by the people. Specifically, at 188/189 hamlets subject to merger, when consulting with people, 95% of the people agreed; only 1 hamlet had a low approval rate but still up to 61%. The District People's Committee has also submitted to the Department of Home Affairs for appraisal of the merger project and renaming of hamlets that do not meet the criteria to merge 189 hamlets and blocks into 90 hamlets and blocks in 18 communes; meaning that after implementing the project in 18 communes, 99 hamlets will be reduced.

"If the project to arrange and merge blocks and hamlets in 18 units is approved by the Provincial People's Council, Tan Ky will immediately reduce 1,089 part-time workers in 99 blocks and hamlets; which means reducing the cost of paying for the team by nearly 9.5 billion VND/year."

Comrade Bui Thanh Bao - Secretary of Tan Ky District Party Committee

Leaders of Thanh Chuong district and town surveyed people's opinions regarding the merger of commune-level administrative units and blocks and hamlets. Photo: Mai Hoa

Currently, other localities in the province are also continuing to review the scale of households in hamlets after Circular No. 14/2018/TT-BNV of the Ministry of Home Affairs was issued to develop a plan to arrange and merge blocks, hamlets, villages, and hamlets. It is generally noted that in localities, the implementation of merging blocks and hamlets is basically favorable, with high consensus from cadres, party members, and people; because in reality, many blocks, hamlets, and hamlets are too small in scale, with only about 100 households, or even less than 50 households; while still forming a framework of non-professional workers with 9-11 positions, creating a burden on the budget in paying allowances; operating expenses for the apparatus and even investment expenses in building small-scale community living institutions.

For example, in Dien Chau district, with a total of 449 blocks and hamlets in the whole district, only 3 hamlets meet the prescribed standards, among the remaining 241 hamlets have a size of 100 - 200 households; in particular, 74 hamlets have a population size of less than 100 households. Similarly, in Vinh city, according to regulations, only 4/371 blocks and hamlets meet the criteria. Or in Nghia Dan district, out of a total of 311 hamlets in the whole district, up to 294 blocks and hamlets have not met 50% of the standards and must be merged, and the district's plan is to merge to reduce 147 hamlets, from 311 to 164 hamlets after the merger.

People in Hamlet 2, Dien Lien Commune (Dien Chau) discuss the merger of hamlets and communes. Photo: Minh Chi

Still many concerns

Currently, the most concerning issue for many establishments is selecting people to take on tasks at the hamlet level. Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Tan Ky district - comrade Doan Cu Nghia said that in some places, finding people to work at the hamlet level when the scale is small is already difficult, now merging to a larger scale is even more difficult.

"When merging, the organizers who want to "aim" to take on the neighborhood's work want to refuse, the organizers who don't "aim" want to do it."

Comrade Doan Cu Nghia - Head of Internal Affairs Department of Tan Ky district

Another concern and worry at the grassroots level today is that after the project to merge blocks and hamlets was approved by the Commune People's Council, the mentality and ideology of those working in the blocks and hamlets have stagnated; if the district level, especially the province, does not quickly promote the procedural steps to ensure the project is soon realized in practice, it will create many difficulties for the grassroots level, especially in solving complex problems and "hot" issues that are being raised.

The biggest concern at the grassroots level right now is that there is no policy to deal with the surplus staff after the merger of communes and towns. Photo: Mai Hoa

Regarding the merger of communes and wards, according to the direction of the Politburo, the roadmap for implementing the merger of district and commune-level administrative units from now until 2021 will basically arrange administrative units that have not met 50% of both standards according to regulations on area and population size. The whole province has 22 communes in 10 districts and towns of Nghe An that must be merged.

However, according to comrade Nguyen Thang Long - Head of the Department of Government Building and Youth Affairs, Department of Home Affairs, up to now, the Government has not had a plan and policy to resolve the number of redundant cadres and civil servants after the merger. This is affecting the working spirit of the cadres and civil servants at the grassroots level; at the same time, there is a mentality of waiting and listening, not really proactive and active in promoting the implementation of the steps to merge commune-level administrative units in localities. These are issues that need to be addressed so that the arrangement and reduction of commune-level administrative units to reach 50% of the standards on population size and natural area in the province can be carried out smoothly.