brazenly excavating forest land and constructing illegal houses.

(Baonghean.vn) - For many years, some households in Hamlet 3, Tuong Son Commune (Anh Son District) have been exploiting forest land, building houses illegally on forest land, and encroaching on traffic safety corridors, but have not been punished.

Excavating forest land and encroaching on traffic safety corridors.

According to locals, after acquiring the forest land from a villager, Mr. Tran Minh Doai brought in an excavator to dig up the soil and sell it elsewhere. After leveling the land, he erected a wooden house on the plot, and gave the remaining land to his brother-in-law, Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa, to build a small house for producing and selling sticky rice cakes.

It has been learned that the owner of the land plot is Mr. Tran Minh Doai, residing in Hamlet 3, Tuong Son Commune. The small house next to it belongs to Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa (Mr. Doai's brother-in-law), also residing in Hamlet 3. The land in question is part of a 1.9-hectare (as shown on the map) forest land transferred by Mr. Bui Cong Linh (Hamlet 3, Tuong Son Commune) to Mr. Tran Minh Doai in December 2014. The transfer contract was confirmed by the People's Committee of Tuong Son Commune. Mr. Doai has now been granted a land use right certificate for this area with the purpose of use being forest land.

Mr. Tran Minh Doai illegally excavated the land and is currently erecting a wooden house frame on it.

The land that Mr. Doai and Mr. Hoa are illegally using is located on the top of Dua Hill, adjacent to National Highway 7, and partly within the traffic safety corridor. Mr. Doai's illegal land exploitation and use has been ongoing for many years, but the local authorities have not taken any action to penalize him. In particular, whenever it rains, the land continues to erode, and Mr. Doai brings in machinery to excavate again.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Tran Dang Thang, a land management official in Tuong Son commune, confirmed that Mr. Doai's illegal excavation of forest land was true. According to Mr. Thang, Mr. Doai took advantage of the weekend to bring his excavator to dig the land. The commune has requested the family to immediately stop this activity and has assigned them the responsibility of not exploiting forest land illegally without authorization from the competent authorities.

“Originally, this land was still forest land, and Mr. Doai had not completed the procedures for changing the land use purpose. Therefore, Mr. Doai's act of excavating the land was wrong. After discovering the violation, the commune drew up a report, but Mr. Doai's family refused to sign it. If the commune hadn't asked him to stop, Mr. Doai could have excavated the entire area to create a parking lot,” said Mr. Tran Dang Thang.

Not only were Mr. Doai and Mr. Hoa illegally exploiting forest land, but they also encroached on the road safety corridor. It is known that when Mr. Doai used an excavator to dig the land, the Anh Son Road Management Unit (495 Joint Stock Company) sent officers to the scene and drew up a report.

Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa's house was built illegally on forest land, encroaching on the traffic safety corridor.

According to the minutes dated August 11, 2016, Mr. Doai used mechanical equipment to excavate soil to create a road for transporting soil within the road safety corridor. The excavation site was 0.5m from the outer edge of the drainage ditch; the length was 15m; and the violated area was 142.5 m2. Also in the minutes, the Anh Son Road Management Unit requested Mr. Doai to return the national highway corridor and restore the infringing structure to its original state before August 14, 2016. After that date, the Unit would transfer the violation file to the traffic inspectorate and other relevant authorities for processing.

However, more than 10 days have passed, but the report has still not been sent by the District Road Management Department to its superiors to serve as the basis for penalizing Mr. Doai for encroaching on the traffic safety corridor.

Slow resolution

According to Mr. Tran Trung Tuyen, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tuong Son commune, when Mr. Doai's family started digging, the authorities came down to draw up a report, but only verbally instructed the family not to continue digging.

Mr. Tuyen admitted that Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa (Mr. Doai's brother-in-law) had built a stall selling sticky rice cakes on the forest land that Mr. Linh had transferred to Mr. Doai.

Why did the commune not take action against Mr. Hoa for building a house on forest land? Answering this question, Mr. Tran Dang Thang, a land cadastral officer of the commune, stated: Initially, when Mr. Hoa built a shack, the commune requested its demolition, but later the family secretly continued construction, and now the house has been completed and standing for over a year. Mr. Hoa himself has a house elsewhere; this location is where he built a two-room house of about a few dozen square meters to sell sticky rice cakes.

Taking primary responsibility for the lax land management, Mr. Tran Trung Tuyen stated: "For a long time, the detection and handling of violations have not been timely; by the time the local authorities discover the issue, it's already too late. In the near future, the commune will be responsible for summoning these individuals to hold Mr. Doai accountable and ensure he stops his activities. Furthermore, the commune will base its actions on legal regulations to resolve the matter and avoid causing public discontent."

A record of violation of the road traffic infrastructure corridor was compiled by the Anh Son District Road Management Unit against Mr. Tran Minh Doai.

Mr. Dau Hong Toan, a road patrol officer at Anh Son Road Management District, stated that the District was aware of Mr. Doai's excavation of soil within the traffic safety corridor and had already drawn up a report. However, the District has not yet forwarded the report to higher authorities for handling Mr. Doai's violation of the traffic safety corridor, citing the reason that "it is not yet the right time."

Regarding Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa's construction of a house on the traffic safety corridor, Mr. Toan stated that he was unaware of it and that the District had possibly recorded it before, but he wasn't directly involved at the time, so he didn't have the information. When the reporter called to request the relevant documents concerning Mr. Tran Minh Doai, Mr. Phan To Thanh – Head of the Anh Son Road Management District – said that the documents were in a cabinet and would provide them later.

Thus, the blatant exploitation of forest land by Mr. Tran Minh Doai without authorization from competent authorities, and the construction of houses by Mr. Bui Xuan Hoa on forest land and within the traffic safety corridor, have existed for many years but have not been definitively resolved or punished by the authorities at all levels in Anh Son district and relevant agencies.

Regarding this issue, leaders of the People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Anh Son district stated that they had not yet received a report from Tuong Son commune. Mr. Hoang Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Anh Son District People's Committee, added: "The district only learned about this issue after hearing about it from the press. Over the past period, the district has issued many documents directing communes to improve land management and prevent illegal land exploitation. The district will direct, inspect, verify, and resolve the matter completely."

Nguyen Hung