Solving the environmental pollution problem in Dong Hop commune (Quy Hop): Not just smoothing things over, but talking about it

DISTRICTS AND COMMUNES JOIN

Connecting with the Dong Hop commune government on January 16, 2021 to grasp the pollution treatment in industrial clusters, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Mr. Vu Ngoc Lam, said that on January 4, 2021, the Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, Mr. Tran Duc Loi, went to Dong Len industrial cluster for inspection. After that, the Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee requested the commune to have a written report explaining and implementing measures to handle pollution.

The roads in Dong Len industrial cluster are full of waste. Photo: Nhat Lan

On environmental protection work inindustrial clusterDong Len, since 2015, when the provincial People's Committee approved the planning, companies and facilities have built factories and 3-compartment waste disposal pits. However, pollution has occurred. The reason is that the owners of the facilities are all households in the area who practice the profession spontaneously, and have poor awareness of environmental protection; meanwhile, the production land area is narrow, not enough to separate material areas, factories, waste storage areas...

During the production and processing process, when the waste pits are full, the facilities scoop up the sludge for treatment, and the wall between the waste pits collapses. The Commune People's Committee has inspected and reminded the owners of the processing facilities to fix it. However, due to the small area, there are difficulties in the discharge operation process, and the waste pits often collapse, leading to wastewater leakage from some facilities to the agricultural production areas of neighboring households...

The Commune People's Committee determined that the owners of the establishments must be responsible for remedying the environmental pollution situation. Therefore, before making the explanatory report, the Commune People's Committee organized a meeting with representatives of enterprises and stone production and processing establishments. At the meeting held on January 5, 2021, the Commune People's Committee requested that within 10 days (from January 5 to 15, 2021), enterprises and stone production and processing establishments in the area must take measures to remedy the environmental pollution situation.

That is, focus on cleaning up all types of waste; for production facilities that already have waste pits, dredging must be done to prevent wastewater from flowing out of the production area; for facilities that do not have settling pits, construction must be carried out to preventwastewater overflowing into the environment...

In recent days, a large mound has suddenly appeared on the inter-village road passing through Dong Len industrial park, causing traffic safety problems. Photo: Nhat Lan

On the part of the Commune People's Committee, establish an inspection team to regularly monitor environmental work in industrial zones and stone production and processing facilities in the area. At the same time, assign specialized staff to draft a document recommending to competent authorities to study and allow the expansion of industrial clusters, so that production facilities can increase the area for organizing production and processing activities and implement environmental protection measures.

On January 7, 2021, the People's Committee of Dong Hop commune sent Report No. 21/BC-UBND to the People's Committee of Quy Hop district. In which, it reported on the planning, the number of enterprises and processing facilities operating in 3 industrial clusters; at the same time, clearly reported the current status, causes, immediate solutions to overcome environmental pollution..., and recommended: "To help the People's Committee of Dong Hop commune perform well the State management work and help stone processing facilities have an area to ensure the production and processing process, it is recommended that the District People's Committee and the Provincial People's Committee approve the expansion of the planning of 3 industrial clusters in Dong Hop commune.

"Currently, the People's Committee of Dong Hop commune is continuing to require the owners of the facilities to implement the environmental protection contents committed in the project...".

Mr. Vu Ngoc Lam - Chairman of Dong Hop Commune People's Committee

Temporary image, through the story of environmental protection at a processing facility in Dong Len industrial cluster. Photo: Nhat Lan

SLOW MOVING!

On January 17, 2021, we returned to Dong Len Industrial Cluster with the Vice Chairman of Dong Hop Commune People's Committee, Mr. Bui Thanh Tung. Sadly, the contents reflected in the article "Dong Hop, a pollution concern…” has not changed significantly. Perhaps only the situation of stone materials being arranged haphazardly along the inter-village road corridor has been reduced. As for the stone waste, it is still scattered everywhere; in production facilities, there are still many large mounds of waste sludge; underground wastewater and sludge tanks are still full, overflowing and scattered in the common use area.

The most critical thing is that the processing facility was reported by the people to be causing pollution. On January 17, 2021, when it knew that the commune leaders and reporters of Nghe An Newspaper were coming back to inspect, it only brought excavators and trucks to clean up the pile of sludge; while the contents that the Commune People's Committee required to comply with such as dredging the waste pit, rebuilding the wall separating it from the people's production area... have not been implemented.

Asked the Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Mr. Bui Thanh Tung: The 10-day deadline that the Commune People's Committee assigned to the owners of establishments in Dong Len Industrial Park to implement environmental protection measures has expired. Why haven't there been any changes yet? Mr. Bui Thanh Tung complained about the difficulty. And said that he himself has regularly checked and reminded. "As in the case of establishments that people complained about, I reminded them regularly but they did not comply. Just yesterday I had to say "I have run out of options. If you do not comply, if something happens in the future, don't blame the commune for not caring and not reminding...". But only now have they sent motorbikes to collect waste..." - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Bui Thanh Tung complained.

"I had to say if we didn't comply, if anything happened in the future, don't blame the commune for not caring or not reminding us... But now they're just sending motorbikes to collect waste...".

Mr. Bui Thanh Tung - Vice Chairman of Dong Hop Commune People's Committee

The processing facility, which was reported by local residents to be causing pollution, only brought in excavators and trucks on January 17, 2021, to clean up the sludge. Photo: Nhat Lan

According to Vice Chairman of Quy Hop District People's Committee, Mr. Tran Duc Loi said that after receiving the information mentioned in the newspaper, it was determined that it was necessary to focus on handling the environmental pollution situation in Dong Len Industrial Park. Therefore, on January 4, 2021, he personally went down to inspect, then specifically directed the contents that the Commune People's Committee needed to implement, requiring that they must be completed within 15 days. "I told the People's Committee of Dong Hop Commune that within 15 days, the Commune People's Committee must focus on urging the owners of the establishments to implement the contents they have committed to. After the 15-day period, the district will come to inspect. If not completed, the owners of the establishments will be handled in accordance with the provisions of law. At that time, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee will be responsible to the district leaders..." - Vice Chairman of Quy Hop District People's Committee Tran Duc Loi emphasized.

As stated in the previous article, the pollution in Dong Len industrial cluster is due to the owners of stone processing facilities not having environmental protection awareness, not fulfilling their own commitments; in addition, the commune government is lax in management because of favoritism towards local people. In recent days, the district has inspected, the commune has taken action but the progress has been slow, proving the above statement is correct. Therefore, it is recommended that the Quy Hop district government take strict enough measures to resolve this situation.

In Dong Hop commune, there are 3 industrial clusters whose detailed planning was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in 2015, including: Dong Len Stone Processing Cluster, area of ​​4.18 ha (actually used area of ​​3.02 ha); Dong Song Stone Processing Cluster, area of ​​9.7 ha (actually used area of ​​9.07 ha); Quynh Hop Hamlet Stone Processing Cluster, area of ​​3.16 ha (actually used area of ​​2.82 ha). Of which, 32 enterprises and stone processing facilities have leased land and have committed to environmental protection. Currently, some companies have temporarily stopped operating, some processing facilities have transferred to other facilities.

(Report No. 21/BC-UBND of Dong Hop Commune People's Committee)

Dong Len Industrial Cluster, Dong Hop New Rural Commune. Photo: Nhat Lan