Nghe An: Flexible and creative in carrying out the 'dual' task of fighting Covid-19

Working with the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Nam Dan District Party Committee, Nguyen Lam Son, in the office, our conversation was constantly interrupted by incoming and outgoing phone calls. Many practical issues such as the election of the hamlet chief, the organization of regular Party cell meetings during the time of restrictions on large gatherings and meetings; and contents related to the preparation of Party congresses at all levels; the direction of reviewing and monitoring people who must be quarantined at home, etc., were asked for opinions from the grassroots and were directly directed by the Standing Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee via phone.

Implementing the regulation of wearing masks at the One-Stop Transaction Center of Nam Anh Commune (Nam Dan). Photo: Mai Hoa

According to comrade Nguyen Lam Son, in order to ensure both epidemic prevention and control work and to carry out political tasks well, Nam Dan district has a policy of directing and urging tasks through online connections with communes, towns, agencies and units in the district or through documents and direct phone calls. The District Party Committee also promotes the role and responsibility of heads of agencies, units, organizations and cadres and specialists assigned to be in charge of sectors and fields in increasing access to the grassroots in a single form to promptly grasp the situation; on that basis, report and advise the district to issue general directives for localities in directing the implementation of professional tasks in the fields of socio-economic development, national defense and security, Party building as well as preparations for Party congresses at all levels.

Also according to the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Nam Dan District Party Committee, for the few hamlets that have not yet elected hamlet chiefs, to ensure timeliness, the election will still be conducted in groups of inter-households to limit large gatherings or by bringing ballot boxes directly to each household, but must ensure the election regulations. In preparing for the congress, to ensure proactiveness, the collection of opinions on documents must also be conducted in writing in the form of 2-3 party members/comment document.

As a key agricultural economic district like Yen Thanh, the outbreak of Covid-19 is also a time that requires high concentration on leadership and direction of spring crop production, especially in handling rice blast disease and avian influenza outbreaks; The District People's Committee has organized online meetings with localities and relevant agencies to direct based on the tasks of each agency and locality, including issues that need coordination. The Department of Agriculture has also established zalo and facebook groups, via gmail, and the M-office system to receive information from the grassroots and promptly direct and handle all issues of the day.

According to Mr. Phan Van Tuyen - Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the District People's Committee, in addition to the online system connecting with 39 communes and towns, Yen Thanh district has also built an online system connecting with 120 schools in the district to promptly direct schools to carry out tasks during the Covid-19 epidemic. Regarding the settlement of people's needs such as granting land use right certificates and handling petitions, the district also propagates and encourages people to send documents and procedures by post; at the same time, promoting the responsibility of the team of cadres and civil servants from the district to the grassroots in this work. Thanks to that, despite the Covid-19 epidemic, in the first quarter of 2020, the rate of handling petitions in the area reached 90%, an increase of 4% over the same period last year.

Mr. Le Van Hung's chicken farm in hamlet 6A, Tien Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Xuan Hoang

The implementation of tasks such as budget collection, construction of works, projects and disbursement is also regularly urged by the district through direct inspections by district leaders and officials in charge of the field and via zalo, phone... The budget collection results in the first quarter of 2020 reached nearly 60% of the year's estimate, of which the land use rights grant fee alone exceeded the year's estimate; the disbursement rate of public investment capital in the first quarter of 2020 reached 62.5% (the same period last year reached 33%).

Regarding the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, according to the affirmation of comrade Le Van Ngoc - Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee: The Covid-19 epidemic not only affects the implementation of tasks, but on the contrary, this is an opportunity for the Fatherland Front at all levels to approach a completely new way of leading, directing, propagating, and gathering people. In addition to implementing direction through the online system for 21 districts, cities, and towns; starting from the beginning of March, the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee also put into use the VNPT e-office document processing software to send documents and receive documents and information sent from the district in a more timely and complete manner. Because if in the past, a conference was held to deploy a certain content, only one district-level leader could receive it, or information sent from the grassroots level was only known to two people, one was the leader in charge of the field and one was the head of the professional department; Now, through this system, all leaders and specialists at the provincial and district Fatherland Front agencies can grasp the situation. Through this, even those who are not assigned to directly handle or coordinate the handling can monitor the work progress.

Along with the online system and e-office system, currently, the Fatherland Front from the province to the grassroots level is also effectively promoting social networks such as Facebook and Zalo in implementing its tasks. Monitoring the Facebook pages of the district and commune level fronts in the province recently shows the effectiveness and spread of propaganda, raising people's awareness of the Covid-19 epidemic as well as awareness of prevention and support for resources for epidemic prevention and control. In some residential areas, small Facebook and Zalo groups have been creatively established in inter-family groups and residential areas to carry out activities such as hanging flags on holidays; mobilizing people to clean the environment; maintaining security and order; awareness of reporting cases returning from abroad or coming from other places...

According to Vice Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee Le Van Ngoc, the professional activities of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee continue to be maintained normally. In the absence of meetings, the Fatherland Front Committee also carries out counter-argumentation activities by sending documents to members of the Advisory Council for written comments. As for monitoring activities, the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee is currently monitoring through reports to the district-level Fatherland Front on the implementation of various funds in the last 3 years, such as relief funds and funds for the poor, to promptly correct any violations. The implementation of the goal of building 1,200 houses for the poor to celebrate the 130th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh has also been carried out by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee through various channels to mobilize philanthropists, agencies, units and businesses to join hands. Up to now, 945/1,200 poor households have been supported to build solidarity houses. The campaign to support the prevention and fight against Covid-19 is also continuing to be promoted and after 3 days of launching, from March 25 to 27, the whole province has mobilized nearly 17 billion VND.

The Department of Transport is speeding up the construction of Provincial Road 531. Photo: PV

For the Transport sector, the Covid-19 pandemic is also an urgent time to accelerate the construction progress of many transport projects, while preparing conditions for the implementation of new transport projects. To ensure work progress, Mr. Hoang Phu Hien - Director of the Department of Transport said that the leaders of the Department and specialized departments and divisions have increased on-site inspections for direct handling; associated with promoting the application and use of software; arranging wifi networks at construction sites, management units, road and waterway management units to have conditions to organize online meetings to handle work promptly. With determination and creativity in direction, many transport projects are being accelerated such as the Vinh - Cua Lo route; Muong Xen - Ta Do - Khe Kien route; Project to upgrade and expand National Highway 15A, section Km320+700 - Km324+500... On the other hand, the industry is also actively accelerating the progress of site clearance to soon implement the Nghi Son - Cua Lo coastal road project; site clearance for the North - South expressway section through Nghe An with the implementation block of 66.58/87.8 km; expansion of Vinh Airport...

With flexibility and creativity, shifting leadership, direction and face-to-face meetings to online form; increasing individual access to the grassroots, and simultaneously handling administrative procedures online, the Party Committee, government, Fatherland Front and organizations at all levels in the province will certainly ensure the good implementation of the "dual" task of both fighting the epidemic and completing the set political tasks.