Resolve complaints and denunciations to ensure the legitimate rights of the people.

Attending the meeting were comrades Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Provincial Police; Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Hoang Viet Duong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; representatives of the leaders of the Fatherland Front, the Provincial Citizen Reception Committee; leaders of relevant departments and branches; units included in the monitoring program including: Provincial Inspectorate; Department of Natural Resources and Environment; People's Committees of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc districts, Hoang Mai town and Vinh city.

On the side of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, there were comrade Tran Van Mao - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation and members of the monitoring delegation.

According to the results of thematic monitoring“Enforcement of the law on receiving citizens and resolving complaints and denunciations related to land acquisition and compensation for site clearance to implement projects in Nghe An province”.From January 1, 2016 to July 30, 2018, the number of petitions related to land acquisition and site clearance for project implementation accounted for 70-75% of the total number of petitions received and resolved.

Overview of the working session. Photo: Khanh Ly

In recent times, the Provincial People's Committee and the District People's Committees have implemented many effective solutions to improve the work of receiving citizens, resolving complaints, denunciations, recommendations and reflections of citizens.

Considering citizen reception and complaint settlement as one of the key and top priority tasks. The Provincial People's Committee and districts have promptly inspected and urged the implementation of the task of handling grassroots petitions; thoroughly handling urgent, complicated, and pending cases; resolving cases under their authority in accordance with the law.

At the same time, closely monitor the responsibility of leaders and professional staff in performing assigned tasks.

Provincial leaders inspect the bid package to upgrade and renovate the canal around Vinh Citadel. Photo: Archive

Compensation and site clearance work is ensured in accordance with legal regulations, basically receiving consensus from the people, and handed over to investors on time.

The work of receiving citizens and handling after receiving citizens is strictly directed by all levels, sectors, and People's Committees of districts. Citizens' recommendations, reflections, complaints, and denunciations are received, guided, assigned for handling, and resolved promptly.

Thanks to that, the rate of resolving complaints, denunciations, recommendations and reflections reached over 95%. The awareness and responsibility of leaders at all levels and sectors in resolving complaints and denunciations were raised. Many urgent cases were resolved, contributing to ensuring social order and safety, promoting socio-economic development.

Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Tran Van Mao requested the Provincial People's Committee to direct localities and sectors at all levels to pay attention to dialogue with citizens, properly implement the grassroots democracy regulations; and do a good job of handling petitions to create consensus among the people. Photo: Khanh Ly

However, the number of petitions related to land acquisition, compensation and site clearance for project implementation in the province is still high. (Vinh city alone received and resolved 1,582 cases during the period from 2016 to 2018).

Violations of the deadline for handling complaints and denunciations, delays in reporting conclusions, and delays in issuing decisions to handle complaints and denunciations still occur. There are cases where the handling of cases shows signs of lack of objectivity, incompleteness, or failure to focus on the content of the petition, causing frustration for citizens. Some compensation complaints have been prolonged and not resolved, potentially causing hot spots. There are still cases where projects have been approved but are implemented slowly or not implemented, affecting the lives of residents in the project area and causing complaints.

The reasons are: the legal mechanism and policies are not consistent; the regulations on compensation policies are unstable and constantly changing. There are cases where the same project has to apply many different policies, leading to unfairness; the difference between the compensation price for land acquisition and clearance of projects compensated by the state and projects that enterprises negotiate with people whose land is recovered leads to a comparison of benefits. The authorities have not strictly handled cases of persistent, illegal complaints or intentional failure to implement decisions on complaints, handling of denunciations, and conclusions and recommendations after inspection.

Urgent construction of Hung Tay - Vinh road. Photo: Document

On the subjective side, some units have not paid adequate attention to the work of receiving people, and there is still a situation of handling petitions in a roundabout way. Some district-level units have only focused on resolving all their authority but have not paid attention to resolving all cases, and there is a phenomenon of avoiding and shirking responsibility. The capacity and professional qualifications of a number of cadres and civil servants, especially in the work of managing land, compensation and site clearance, still have many shortcomings, and there are cases of law violations that require criminal prosecution.

Local authorities (especially at the commune level) have loosened land management, allowing people to expand and encroach on land, but have not taken any drastic measures to resolve the issue, and have not kept complete records. The work of disseminating and educating the law, especially regulations related to land management and land acquisition and compensation, has not been very effective, and the implementation of the DCCS regulations has not been good. The awareness of law observance of a part of the people is still limited, making requests and demands that are not in accordance with the law. Although the results have been resolved many times, they do not accept the results, and continue to file long-term complaints...

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police Department requested the monitoring team to add specific appendices related to prolonged complaints and denunciations so that the Provincial People's Committee can clearly understand and direct relevant units and functional branches to have solutions to direct the resolution. Photo: Khanh Ly

At the meeting, many opinions suggested that the Provincial People's Committee direct the implementation of projects to ensure compliance with procedures and legal regulations; pay attention to social security issues, and create jobs for people whose land is recovered to implement the project. Review and handle projects that are slow to implement or do not implement investment according to legal regulations. Focus on arranging officials to manage construction planning at all levels to ensure sufficient capacity to appraise, advise, approve construction planning, and compensation for site clearance.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Hoang Viet Duong pointed out the situation of land allocation beyond the authority of localities, causing many difficulties in compensation and site clearance work, and requested the Provincial People's Committee to direct relevant agencies to inspect and review. Photo: Khanh Ly

Some opinions requested the Provincial People's Committee to clearly state its viewpoints, plans, progress, and specific plans in resolving complaints related to National Highway 1A site clearance. At the same time, it requested the Provincial People's Committee to continue to pay attention to, handle difficulties, and remove obstacles for a number of other projects that have been implemented.

Receiving the opinions of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation's supervision delegation and other opinions, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien requested relevant sectors to explain and clarify the questions and concerns of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation's supervision delegation and other opinions. At the same time, he expressed his agreement and accepted all opinions of the supervision delegation and delegates of departments and sectors. These are considered important bases for the Provincial People's Committee to pay attention, direct and have specific solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of public reception, complaint and denunciation settlement, especially in the fields related to land acquisition and site clearance.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that land acquisition and clearance is a complex and sensitive field, and the emergence of petitions is inevitable. In recent times, the Provincial People's Committee has directed the timely and legal settlement of many cases. Particularly for National Highway 1A, the Provincial People's Committee has been directing relevant sectors and localities to actively coordinate in order to resolve the matter in accordance with legal regulations, avoiding the emergence of hot spots.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien requested that in handling petitions related to land acquisition and compensation, it is necessary to ensure publicity, transparency, and compliance with legal regulations. Photo: Khanh Ly

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien also requested that all levels, sectors and localities in handling complaints and denunciations must ensure the legitimate rights of the people but must be objective, transparent, in accordance with the law, contributing to ensuring social order and safety, promoting the socio-economic development of the province.