National Assembly delegates meet with voters in Nghe An forestry sector

(Baonghean.vn) -On April 23, at Pu Mat National Park, National Assembly delegates including Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien - Head of the People's Petition Committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Comrade Pham Van Tan - Provincial Party Committee member - Deputy Head of the National Assembly delegation of Nghe An province, Ms. Vi Thi Huong - Deputy Director of the Southwest Regional General Hospital organized a meeting with voters of the Nghe An forestry sector.

Attending the meeting with voters were Mr. Tran Van Luc - Deputy Director of the Forest Protection Department, Vietnam General Department of Forestry; Mr. Tran Van Mao - Standing Member of the Provincial People's Council; Cao Xuan Binh - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Head of the Forest Protection Department, along with representatives of the National Assembly Office, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee, leaders of Con Cuong district and forest protection forces in mountainous districts.

Scene of the meeting with voters in the forestry sector



Mr. Pham Van Tan - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An informed about the content of the upcoming 5th session.

On behalf of the delegation of National Assembly deputies of Nghe An province, Mr. Pham Van Tan informed the voters of the forestry sector about the main contents of the 5th session of the 13th National Assembly, which will take place from May 20 to June 25. This meeting was conducted on thematic topics so that National Assembly deputies could grasp the actual situation and give their opinions to the National Assembly and the Government for consideration and resolution.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nghe An currently has 883,971 hectares of forest, with a coverage rate of over 54%. Of which, natural forests account for 734,515 hectares and planted forests account for 149,456 hectares. In recent times, functional forces, with the core being the forest rangers, Pu Mat National Park, Pu Huong Nature Reserve, and protective forest management units, have strengthened coordination with border guards, police, local Party committees, authorities, and people to effectively organize forest protection and development and implement forest fire prevention and fighting plans.

However, due to the great value of forest products and wildlife, illegal loggers are more reckless, so the work of forest protection and development faces many difficulties and challenges. Meanwhile, the forest protection force is still small, means and support tools are limited; Most ethnic minorities living in natural forest areas still rely on forests; The housing support program under Decision 167/TTg requires the use of large volumes of wood, so people take advantage of it to illegally exploit and trade. In 2012, the authorities discovered and handled 1,313 cases of forest product violations, confiscating 3,045m3 of various types of wood and 1,123 animals. In the first 3 months of 2013, 405 cases were discovered, arrested and handled, confiscating 946m3 of wood and 428kg of wild animals.

Representatives of voters of forestry units reflected the difficulties in forest protection and development and recommended and proposed to the National Assembly and the Government to have reasonable policies, increase resources including people and special vehicles for functional forces. There were 28 incidents, focusing on 8 groups of issues reflected to National Assembly delegates including: Issues of financial support, allowances to support forestry staff, especially for forest protection forces at the grassroots level; Issues of implementing policies on forest development; Support of technical means for forest protection forces; Personnel structure, organization of activities of functional forces; Effectiveness of the implementation of Government decisions on forest protection; Proposal to study more reasonable policies for forest protection and development; Difficulties between protecting and exploiting forest resources; Continuing to build forest protection projects; Develop incentive policies for functional forces and grassroots people in forest protection and development work.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien - Head of the National Assembly's Petition Committee acknowledged and promised to forward voters' opinions to the National Assembly and the Government.

After listening to the opinions and recommendations of voters, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien - Head of the National Assembly's Petition Committee affirmed that the policy of increasing contact with voters on specific topics is one of the activities to improve the effectiveness of the National Assembly's supervision of people's livelihood issues. The opinions of voters in the forestry sector will be compiled and classified by the National Assembly delegation to propose to the Government and ministries to discuss the most thorough implementation solutions.

Nguyen Son