Tuong Duong voters worried about mysterious cracks surrounding the village

On the morning of April 26, National Assembly deputies: Le Quang Huy - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment; Nguyen Thi Thao - Doctor of Tay Bac General Hospital had a meeting with voters before the 7th session in Mai Son commune (Tuong Duong district).

Mai Son is one of the farthest communes of Nghe An. This commune is 120 km from the center of Tuong Duong district. The commune has 10 villages, of which 6 are Thai, 2 are Kho Mu and 1 is Mong. The poverty rate is 58%.

At the meeting, delegate Le Quang Huy informed voters about the program expected to take place in the upcoming session. Photo: Tien Hung

According to voters, for over a year now, a series of cracks have appeared in Pha Khao village, causing concern among the people. The width of the cracks ranges from about 5 to 70 cm, with many places being nearly 2 meters deep. The cracks stretch for over 1km around the village.

Mysterious cracks in many places around the Kindergarten in Pha Khao village. Photo: Tien Hung

After the cracks appeared, the primary and kindergarten schools in this village had to close and set up temporary shelters in the vacant lot to teach. However, these shelters were also severely damaged.

The schools then had to temporarily borrow people's houses to continue teaching and learning. Mai Son commune leaders said that the authorities currently do not know the cause of these cracks. Meanwhile, people and teachers working here are very worried because the cracks are getting more and more serious.

Voter Mai Son speaks at the conference. Photo: Tien Hung

Also at the meeting, Mai Son voters requested that all levels continue to take measures to mobilize households to resettle in the Ban Ve hydropower reservoir area, who are now returning to live in the reservoir area, causing many difficulties for people in land and forest management.

Meanwhile, voter Lo Thanh Thuong (head of Na Kha village) proposed to review and restore the dam and irrigation canal system in this village, which was completely damaged by the 2018 flood. “There was no water for the previous two crops, so people had to abandon them. Now we are preparing for the third crop,” said Mr. Thuong.

In addition, voters of Mai Son commune also said that the locality is currently lacking production land and requested that the district should soon redistribute it.

Explaining directly at the conference, Mr. Lo Thanh Nhat - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said that regarding the issue of land redistribution for production, not only in Mai Son commune, but also in the district, the demand for converting forestry and protection land into production land is very large. The district has also held many meetings to plan land redistribution.

“We have been implementing this for several years now, and have done it in three communes: Thach Giam, Tam Quang, and Tam Thai. We cannot implement it all at once because we need to have complete documentation and procedures. The measurement process requires funding, and the district must contract with consultants. While the budget is limited, we hope voters will share,” said Mr. Nhat.

Regarding the damaged irrigation canal that forced people to abandon their fields, Mr. Nhat said the district was well aware of this information. “To repair this area, we need to include it in the medium-term plan to have money. In the near future, we will speed up the process of preparing documents for this project,” Mr. Nhat said.

Regarding the cracks that have appeared for nearly a year, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district said that the district has surveyed and decided to urgently relocate the entire Pha Khao village, but the relocation fund is too large and has not been implemented yet. "While waiting for resettlement, we ask people to be vigilant, especially when it rains," said Mr. Nhat.