Responding better and better to the legitimate aspirations of the people

At the 11th session of the Nghe An Provincial People's Council (held in early December 2022), via an online telephone line, Mr. Ho Quy Thanh (Quynh Luong commune, Quynh Luu district) reported that his family had bought land at auction and paid in full, but had not been allocated land or granted a Land Use Rights Certificate for more than 2 years. His opinion was accepted by the meeting chair and immediately after the meeting, it was sent to the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district for consideration and response. After just over 20 days from the time Mr. Thanh reported, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district intervened to resolve the matter, allocated land in the field and granted a Land Use Rights Certificate to his family.

Các đồng chí Nguyễn Nam Đình- Ủy viên Ban Thường vụ Tỉnh ủy, Phó Chủ tịch Thường trực HĐND tỉnh và Đồng chí Nguyễn Như Khôi - Ủy viên Ban Chấp hành Đảng bộ tỉnh, Phó Chủ tịch HĐND tỉnh trao đổi với các đại biểu về chất lượng tiếp xúc cử tri. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Comrades Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council and Comrade Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council discussed with delegates about the quality of voter contact. Photo: Mai Hoa

Also through the online telephone line at the 11th session of the Provincial People's Council, Mr. Tran Vo Long, in Hamlet 1, Thanh Dong Commune (Thanh Chuong District) reported that he had completed the procedures to receive orthopedic rehabilitation equipment for war invalids since June 2022 but had not been resolved. Mr. Tran Vo Long's petition was transferred by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghe An. On that basis, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs inspected and determined that Mr. Tran Vo Long had submitted a request for assistance equipment to the Department but did not have enough documents according to regulations, specifically, he did not have a medical examination certificate and instructions for the use of assistive equipment, orthopedic equipment, and equipment from a competent medical agency, so there was not enough basis to resolve the subsidy.

After the inspection, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs instructed Mr. Tran Vo Long to complete the documents and provide money to buy assistive devices, orthopedic devices, and rehabilitation equipment according to the provisions of Decision No. 4957/QD-SLDTBXH dated August 31, 2022 for Mr. Tran Vo Long.

HĐND tỉnh giám sát chuyên đề về chính sách phát triển miền núi tại Tương Dương. Ảnh: Thành Cường
The Provincial People's Council supervises a special topic on mountainous development policy in Tuong Duong. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The above are two of hundreds of opinions, recommendations from voters and petitions that the Provincial People's Council has received, transferred and urged the relevant agencies to resolve since the beginning of the year. Along with receiving and urging, since the beginning of 2023, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council has put the workresolve voters' petitions, People on the monthly agenda. In particular, pay attention to synthesizing and reviewing voters' opinions and recommendations that have not been resolved promptly and thoroughly or have signs of being pushed around in resolution between levels and sectors to recommend the Provincial People's Committee to direct departments, sectors and localities to resolve, demonstrating the Provincial People's Council's adherence to this work.

The information on the results of handling voters' opinions, recommendations and citizens' petitions is diversified on many channels. Instead of only sending the settlement results to localities as before, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council assigned the People's Petition - Information Department, the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council to synthesize the settlement results for each constituency and send them to each Provincial People's Council delegate to inform voters at the voter contact session; and at the same time, post them publicly on the Electronic Information Page of the People's Delegates of Nghe An province; send them directly to voters via phone, Gmail, Zalo (because during voter contact sessions, receiving petitions and feedback, the Provincial People's Council requires voters and people to provide full name, address, and phone number).

Quang cảnh Hội nghị trao đổi kinh nghiệm hoạt động giữa Thường trực HĐND tỉnh với Thường trực HĐND cấp huyện, trong đó có hoạt động tiếp xúc cử tri và giải quyết kiến nghị, phản ánh của cử tri. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Scene of the conference to exchange operational experiences between the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee and the District People's Council Standing Committee, including activities of meeting voters and resolving voters' petitions and feedback. Photo: Mai Hoa

Comrade Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said: When the results of the settlement are communicated to voters through many channels, in addition to increasing the publicity and transparency in the response and settlement of the competent authorities, overcoming the situation of the same content of the same voter petitioning many times; there are contents that local voters petition and reflect that many voters in many localities interested in the same issue can also grasp, reducing the reception and reflection of duplicate opinions and petitions.

According to the synthesis from the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council, since the beginning of the term, the Provincial People's Council has received, synthesized, classified, and transferred more than 700 documents.voters' opinions and recommendationsand 225 petitions from citizens to competent authorities for resolution and response.

Cán bộ Văn phòng Đoàn đại biểu Quốc hội và HĐND tỉnh tổng hợp kiến nghị, phản ánh của Nhân dân qua đường dây điện thoại trực tuyến. Ảnh: Mai Hoa
Staff of the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council synthesized people's suggestions and feedback via the online hotline. Photo: Mai Hoa

However, according to comrade Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa - Deputy Chief of Office of the National Assembly Delegation and Provincial People's Council, currently the synthesis of the results of handling and responding to voters' opinions and reflections is being combined; the response rate is 100%, but the resolution is not guaranteed to be 100%, because in reality there are many opinions and recommendations of voters and people that have not been resolved related to resources, related to policy mechanisms and legal regulations that are still inadequate and overlapping...

This raises concerns for the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council, trying to "separate" more clearly, which content has been resolved, which content is answered, explained; at the same time, it must take a higher step: which content is a new recommendation, which content has been recommended for the second time, the third time... to easily monitor, supervise, and urge the competent agencies to resolve. On that basis, all levels and sectors clearly see their responsibilities to focus on handling.

Đồng chí Nguyễn Nam Đình - Ủy viên Ban Thường vụ Tỉnh ủy, Phó Chủ tịch Thường trực HĐND tỉnh tìm hiểu việc triển khai thực hiện chính sách hỗ trợ phát triển nông nghiệp do HĐND tỉnh ban hành tại huyện Thanh Chương; Đại biểu HĐND tỉnh giám sát khai thác khoáng sản ở xã Ngọc Sơn (Quỳnh Lưu). Ảnh: Mai Hoa - PV
Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council learns about the implementation of the agricultural development support policy issued by the Provincial People's Council in Thanh Chuong district; Provincial People's Council delegates supervise mineral exploitation in Ngoc Son commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: Mai Hoa - PV

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Nhu Khoi said: The Law on Local Government clearly stipulates that the People's Council is the body representing the will, aspirations and mastery of the People. The responsibility of the People's Council delegates is to closely connect with voters, collect and honestly reflect their opinions, aspirations and recommendations; protect the legitimate rights and interests of voters; and at the same time respond to their requests and recommendations. Therefore, the responsibility of each delegate must be raised to both directly answer and resolve issues that voters are concerned about and reflect, and to synthesize, classify, convey and urge competent authorities to quickly and effectively resolve, especially urgent recommendations that are close to people's lives; avoid just receiving, synthesizing and transferring to competent authorities to resolve and then completing the task.

Along with the responsibility of each delegate, the Provincial People's Council is currently promotinginformation technology applications, digital transformation, ensuring that the "journey" from receiving voters' petitions, transferring them to the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial People's Committee transferring them to departments, branches and localities for resolution and responding to voters with the resolution results is closely monitored, thereby enhancing responsibility at each resolution stage.

Along with that, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council also issued a document recommending the Provincial People's Committee to study and amend Decision 25, issued on July 11, 2019, on the regulations on receiving, handling and responding to voters' petitions, in accordance with practical requirements, increasingly better meeting the legitimate aspirations of voters and people.

The efforts of the Provincial People's Council and each Provincial People's Council delegate, besides aiming to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of the People, also contribute significantly to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the State apparatus' management, promoting socio-economic development, maintaining political security and social order and safety in the province.