Provincial People's Council Delegate: Look straight at and clearly state pressing issues and shortcomings

(Baonghean) - At the group discussion session on the afternoon of July 11, the provincial People's Council delegates not only looked directly at the "hot" issues, but also analyzed in depth and held the management agencies accountable. This shows that the delegates have demonstrated their courage and high responsibility in going to the bottom of the issues that voters care about.

"Examining" the role of state management

Participating in the discussion groups, the delegates frankly mentioned the responsibility of State management for each problem, backlog, causing frustration that voters are concerned about. Mr. Hoang Huu Hung - Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Do Luong district stated: "People request that State management agencies and investors soon announce the environmental impact of Song Lam Cement Factory on the surrounding area, because voters are not confident about environmental protection and believe that there are signs of environmental impact; along with solutions to overcome it".

The issue of environmental pollution at Lach Van fishing port was reflected by the Provincial People's Council delegates at the group discussion session. Photo: PV

Also related to environmental issues, delegate Nguyen Thi Lan - Deputy Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council raised the unresolved issues from the 3rd session of the Provincial People's Council: "The environmental pollution situation at Lach Van fishing port has been "resolved" very slowly. The issue has been petitioned by voters for a long time, the Provincial People's Council has requested to resolve it since the beginning of the year, but it was not until May 15, 2017 that the Department of Environmental Protection and the People's Committee of Dien Chau district issued an official dispatch dated June 7, 2017 requesting relevant parties to handle it." Delegate Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with the investor of Song Lam Cement Factory to announce the environmental impact results and Do Luong district to monitor the implementation of the factory's commitment.

At discussion group No. 2, discussing the issue of health insurance fund, delegate Pham Thi Hong Toan - Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper assessed that the connection in medical examination and treatment has helped improve the quality of medical facilities and create favorable conditions for people; however, the problem of health insurance fund deficit has emerged. Going into specific inadequacies in the handling of related sectors, emphasizing the concern of payment that is "covering" medical facilities in the province, the delegate said that raising the issue of exceeding the ceiling and exceeding the fund with medical facilities is not satisfactory because when connecting, people with health insurance cards have the right to choose medical facilities for medical examination and treatment.

On the other hand, the social insurance sector is worried about exceeding the fund and the ceiling, hospitals are worried about how to avoid being billed, but the health sector has almost no professional participation and is letting the social insurance sector and hospitals do it themselves. "The province and the health sector must thoroughly intervene in this matter, first of all, stabilize the hospitals before the worry of billed to ensure the quality of medical examination and treatment for the people" - delegate Pham Thi Hong Toan suggested.

Delegate Pham Thi Hong Toan speaks. Photo: Thanh Duy

Concerned about the province's administrative reform index in 2016 falling 17 places compared to 2015, delegate Tran Thanh Thuy - Director of Nghe An Telecommunications suggested that it is necessary to clearly identify which sectors and localities "dropped" the administrative reform index; strictly criticize and assign responsibility to sectors and localities in implementing administrative reform. The delegate highly appreciated the province's assessment and classification of the administrative reform index of localities and sectors, but suggested that it is necessary to publish a clear set of criteria. The delegate also said that it is necessary to promote the application of information technology in administrative reform. "We have good tools but if departments, branches and sectors do not participate, it will be a great waste" - delegate Tran Thanh Thuy expressed.

Regarding the issue of new rural construction, delegate Hoang Danh Lai - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district raised the current problem of widespread new rural debt, some places have quite large debt amounts and wondered if the province has any solutions to overcome it! The delegate also said that currently, only 3 communes in the whole province are included in the planning of new rural model construction, including Quynh Doi commune (Quynh Luu).

However, the province has not yet had a specific policy mechanism for these 3 communes, so the locality has had difficulty in completing the target. Delegate Ho Phuc Hop - Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department expressed: "Within 1 year, the debt cancellation only reached 100 billion VND, mainly from the provincial People's Committee's budget. Meanwhile, it has not yet taken into account the arising factors such as having to sustainably maintain the targets and newly arising debts. Building a new rural area and then taking on a debt like that, is it a new rural area?" and suggested that the provincial People's Committee and all levels need to pay attention to this issue.

"Price drop" - loss of system control?

The issue of falling agricultural prices directly affecting farmers' lives was given special attention by the delegates and discussed and analyzed objectively with reference views from many sides. Referring to the issue of agricultural market, delegate Pham Van Hoa - Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Council said that "our agricultural market is completely out of control".

Delegate Vi Van Hoe (Ky Son district) suggested that the province should direct the development of production models for mountainous people to sustainably reduce poverty. Photo by Mai Hoa

Expressing concerns about the situation of passion fruit prices falling in early 2017, only half the price compared to 2016, although passion fruit is included in the province's key tree project, delegate Luu Van Hung - Vice Chairman of Que Phong District People's Council suggested that the province needs to have mechanisms and policies to ensure sustainable agricultural development; in which it is necessary to pay attention to the planning of agricultural and forestry development in the whole province and implement good planning management, avoiding spontaneous development. Mr. Hung cited that previously, the model of chives planted in Anh Son district earned a profit of 100 million VND/ha; after that, chives were planted en masse by people in Do Luong and Nghi Loc, until the price of chives was too cheap, all levels and sectors mobilized to "rescue" chives. Or in Con Cuong district, there are rattan and ginseng trees that have been ineffective for decades, it is necessary to end these models to build a suitable agricultural model, bringing economic efficiency to the people.

Delegate Dang Thi Thanh - Vice Chairwoman of the People's Council of Dien Chau district, expressed concern about the decrease in pork and duck prices while animal feed prices remain high. Deputy Head of the Legal Committee of the Provincial People's Council Tran Dinh Toan pointed out: "Reality shows that clean agricultural products raised by traditional methods are still consumed well and have good prices. Meanwhile, industrial livestock farming makes the quality of products poor, the market does not accept it, leading to "overproduction crisis" and devaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to rectify and orient farmers to produce in accordance with market demand."

Many pig farms are keeping a low level of pig production as the price of live pigs is too low. Photo: Nguyen Son

Concerned about agricultural products, some opinions analyzed in depth some causes and shortcomings, not only the responsibility of the State, but also the responsibility of farmers and some related organizations. Delegate Nguyen Thi Nhan - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Council said that cooperatives need to improve their operational role after conversion to perform their functions well, including the issue of providing fertilizers to farmers to ensure quality and price. Farmers' Associations should not "encroach" on business, including fertilizer supply services as they are doing now. Agreeing with this issue, delegate Vuong Quang Minh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front said that the authorities need to strengthen the inspection and management of fertilizers so that fertilizer products reaching farmers ensure quality, avoiding fake and poor quality fertilizers.

In addition to the above issues, the delegates also discussed many issues that voters in the whole province are interested in, such as the situation of labor and employment that still has many shortcomings and waste; the situation of re-encroachment on traffic safety corridors; poverty reduction support programs that have not really brought about effectiveness... The issues that the Provincial People's Council delegates discussed in 8 groups were exchanged, explained and accepted by representatives of departments and branches. The responsible and courageous participation of the People's Council delegates right from the group discussion session, promises that the contents discussed in the hall on the morning of July 12 and the question and answer session on the afternoon of July 12 will really make the 4th session of the Provincial People's Council, term XVII, continue to be working sessions that meet expectations about the quality of activities of the agency representing the interests of the people, by the people and for the people.

PV Group