Land disputes and complaints are increasingly complicated.

(Baonghean) - The rate of complaints and denunciations related to land is currently increasing; and it is worth mentioning thatDaily conflicts and contradictions between land use rights and obligations arise with no less intensity.

Because the land lost love

There have been many sad stories related to land disputes that have caused the relationship between brothers, neighbors, and neighbors to crack, even some people lost their lives, others fell into legal trouble. On August 10, 2017, due to conflicts in land disputes, Mr. Phan Van Viet, residing in Dong Ha hamlet, Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky), and Mr. Phan Dinh Binh and his son Phan Dinh Quang, residing in the same hamlet, got into a fight, causing Mr. Viet to die on the spot and Mr. Binh to be seriously injured.

Recently, on September 22, Mr. Tran Dinh Bac (51 years old) hired an excavator to destroy part of the house, claiming that his neighbor, Mr. Nguyen Duy Huu (village 5, Thanh My commune, Thanh Chuong district), was building a house on his land.

According to Mr. Pham Xuan Luc - Chairman of Thanh My Commune People's Committee, the cause is a land dispute. "These two houses are adjacent to each other, disputing about 40 cm of land on the road with a depth of about 20m. The dispute has lasted for many years. Recently, Mr. Huu returned from abroad and built a house encroaching on this disputed land, leading to the incident."

These are just a few of the many conflicts and disputes related to land that have occurred recently. Some people believe that the local authorities have not resolved the issue in a reasonable and just manner, leading to complaints that go beyond the level of the authority and are prolonged.

Most of the cases of encroachment on Vach Bac canal have purchased land from the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune (Yen Thanh).

Why do petitions focus on land?

According to data from the provincial inspectorate, the total number of complaints, denunciations, recommendations, reflections, and land disputes arising in the province in the first 9 months of 2017 was 6,030, including: 513 complaints, 393 denunciations; 5,124 recommendations, reflections, and land disputes (an increase of 3.1%).

From January 2015 to the end of June 2017, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment received 772 petitions (159 petitions in the first 6 months of 2017 alone), mainly complaints, denunciations, and land disputes. Of which, the unit advised on resolving the rights of 57 citizens to be considered for compensation for the value of land use rights and assets on land.

Provincial inspectors classify and synthesize petitions related to land.

The reason for the arising of complaints and denunciations is that recently, first of all, when the authorities at all levels have reclaimed a lot of land from the people to hand over to investors to carry out projects to build urban, commercial, and service areas... but the policy issues related to the interests of land users still have many shortcomings, land prices are not suitable, often change; compensation and support mechanisms are not consistent, making them difficult to implement.

Currently, the compensation policy is still implemented according to two mechanisms: the State recovers land and the compensation agreement should have a difference with the compensation value in equivalent areas, leading to a huge difference between the compensation land price and the actual market price of land use rights transfer, causing the complainant to compare.

On the other hand, land management in some localities still has many limitations, as shown: Firstly, the recovery, valuation, counting, inventory of assets on land, determination of area, land type, development of compensation, support, and resettlement plans are sometimes and in some places not done well, leading to citizens not accepting, giving rise to complaints demanding rights.

Mr. Tran Dinh Bac (village 5, Thanh My commune, Thanh Chuong) used an excavator to dig up the foundation of his neighbor's house. Photo: TH

Second, land acquisition, land allocation, land lease, and issuance of land use right certificates still have errors, not following planning and legal regulations. Many projects acquire land from people and then leave it fallow; the land use potential is low but the acquisition is on a large area, causing waste of land, making citizens angry and demanding the land back.

Third, many localities have not done a good job of propaganda, education, mobilization, persuasion, and reconciliation right from the grassroots level, attaching importance to administrative measures (commands, coercion), being hasty, subjective, imposing, paying too much attention to socio-economic development goals, and not paying attention to people's lives, leading to people being upset and filing mass complaints.

Fourth, the quality of handling complaints and denunciations of land disputes by district and commune authorities is not high. Many cases are left over from history but the authorities over the periods have not resolved them completely, causing dissatisfaction among the people, such as the situation of hundreds of households arbitrarily transferring, leveling the ground, and building solid houses on Vach Bac canal in Do Thanh commune (Yen Thanh); or the situation of encroachment and illegal construction on agricultural land that has lasted for more than ten years in Quynh Luu, concentrated in Quynh Hong, Quynh Hung, Quynh Ba, Quynh Doi communes... However, authorities at all levels have not had drastic and synchronous solutions to handle violators and restore discipline, causing people to lose confidence.

Tighten management

It is forecasted that the situation of complaints, denunciations, and land disputes will continue to develop complicatedly and will mainly focus on the field of compensation and land acquisition in areas where a lot of land is recovered from people to implement socio-economic development projects. The situation of disputes, lawsuits, and reclaiming old land by some organizations tends to increase, and is sensitive due to the intervention of reactionary forces, taking advantage of democracy to incite and attract mass lawsuits.

The newly built house (left) of Mr. Nguyen Duy Huu (village 5, Thanh My commune, Thanh Chuong) encroaches on the disputed land. Photo: Tien Hung

Therefore, in addition to strengthening the propaganda and dissemination of laws to officials and people (especially in communes, wards and towns), authorities at all levels and functional agencies need to further strengthen land management to limit the occurrence of complaints and denunciations, especially at the grassroots level; step up inspection and examination of the implementation of land use planning and plans; compensation, support and resettlement when the State reclaims land.

In addition, resolutely reclaim land that has been allocated or leased, but not to the right subjects, not used or used ineffectively or for the wrong purposes. Resolutely and promptly handle cases of violations of land laws, negative cases, and corruption related to land by officials and civil servants.

Khanh Ly