Nghe An: Blatantly blocking the road to collect fees from people entering the forest

Land allocation covers the entire residential road

Ms. Tran Thi Ha (66 years old) in Tan Ky town cannot remember how many petitions she has sent and how many government agencies she has "knocked on the doors" of over the years to demand justice. Along with many other households, she has repeatedly sent petitions to the authorities for help because a household has blocked the only road leading to the forest. "The entire acacia forest is past the age of exploitation, but now they have blocked the road, making it impossible for vehicles to enter," Ms. Ha said.

Many years ago, Ms. Ha’s family and some households in Block 2 (Tan Ky town) were assigned dozens of hectares of land to plant forests. The farming went smoothly until one day about 10 years ago. At that time, Mr. Nguyen Tai Son’s family suddenly built an iron gate, blocking the only road leading to this forest. “Back then, it was the acacia harvest season. But every time a truck came in to transport the acacia, Mr. Son’s family would block it to collect fees,” Ms. Ha said.

For many years, Ms. Ha has sent out petitions for help everywhere. Photo: Tien Hung

At this time, the local people here just knew that Mr. Nguyen Tai Son had been granted a land use right certificate by the People's Committee of Tan Ky district since 2006, which "embraced" the residential road. "That road has a long history. There are local people here as witnesses. After having the land use right certificate, Mr. Son started to make things difficult for us. But because we didn't want the neighbors to have disputes and fights, we had to be patient," said Ms. Ha.

In 2013, Ms. Ha agreed to spend 10 million VND to “buy” this road from Mr. Son’s family so that she could freely enter and cultivate. The agreement, certified by the People’s Committee of Tan Ky town, clearly stated that “from now on, this is a shared road”. Although she had received the money and signed the agreement, not long after, Mr. Son’s family continued to prevent trucks from entering to transport acacia. Since then, these households have had to pay a fee to enter the forest.

In May 2019, after receiving a request for help from these households, the Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board sent a working group to inspect the field and compare it with the maps. Then, on May 30, 2019, the Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board sent a document to the People's Committee of Tan Ky district and Tan Ky town regarding the re-determination of this residential road.

Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board stated that the land area for which Tan Ky District People's Committee granted a land use right certificate to Mr. Nguyen Tai Son overlaps with forestry land. On the other hand, in the forestry map issued in March 2003, this area has a residential road, but in the cadastral map where Tan Ky District granted a land use right certificate to Mr. Son, there is no residential road. "This is a residential road that forestry households regularly travel through to plant, care for, and protect the existing forest," the document stated.

According to the Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board, the granting of a land use right certificate to Mr. Son's family covering the entire residential road is the basis for Mr. Son to exert pressure to collect road fees every time households contracted to exploit acacia trees pass by. Therefore, this agency has requested the People's Committee of Tan Ky district and Tan Ky town to check whether the granting of a land use right certificate to Mr. Son's family is in accordance with the planning of residential land and garden land or not. At the same time, review and adjust the planning of rural residential roads to be consistent with the forestry map issued in March 2003, to avoid causing frustration for people contracted to forests and forestry land.

The residential road was blocked by an iron gate. Photo: Tien Hung

However, the incident was not resolved by Tan Ky district authorities. In October 2019, after receiving the feedback, the Provincial People's Committee also issued a document assigning Tan Ky district People's Committee to coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to inspect and handle the case according to their authority, but until now, Mr. Son's family still blatantly blocks the road, not allowing people to enter the forest.

Delayed processing

Most recently, on March 11, 2020, Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board had to send another document to the District People's Committee and Tan Ky Town People's Committee regarding this matter. In this document, Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board once again affirmed that "Mr. Nguyen Tai Son's blatant blocking of the road, patrolling, forest care, and forest protection of households and officers of Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board going to inspect is an illegal act, because this road already existed before. This is the boundary between the two localities of Ky Tan commune and Tan Ky town, the patrol and forest inspection route of officers of the Protective Forest Management Board as well as of households contracted to protect the protective forest".

In order to create conditions for households receiving contracts to effectively protect and develop protective forests, especially to effectively prevent and fight forest fires in the area during the hot season, as well as facilitate patrolling and inspection by officials, the Protective Forest Management Board requested the Tan Ky District People's Committee to consider and resolve the issue. However, after more than 2 months, the local government has not responded to this document.

Ms. Tran Thi Ha said that not only did she send a petition for help, she also directly complained to the leaders of Tan Ky district many times during regular citizen receptions about this matter. During the citizen reception chaired by Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet - Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee on January 10, 2020, in response to Ms. Ha's reflection, Mr. Viet only briefly concluded that "the incident was investigated by the District People's Committee and then (on December 30, 2019) continued to issue a document to extend the time for inspection and verification. Therefore, Ms. Ha is requested to wait for the results of the District People's Committee", the document concluding the citizen reception by the Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee stated. However, 4 months later, during the citizen reception in May 2020, Ms. Ha once again reflected and still received the same answer.

Mrs. Ha's acacia forest is past the age of exploitation. Photo: Tien Hung

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that the case is still being reviewed by the inspection team and there is no final conclusion yet. “There are some difficulties in this matter,” the Chairman of Tan Ky People’s Committee stated the reason for the delay in concluding the inspection but refused to say how “difficult” it was.

Mr. Viet also suggested that the reporter work with Tan Ky town to get a clear understanding. However, when the reporter contacted, Mr. Dau Truong Son - Chairman of Tan Ky town People's Committee said that the town did not resolve this incident. "The district has set up an inspection team for this incident. The Chairman of the district People's Committee has also made a conclusion. The reporter should contact the district," Mr. Son said.

Just one incident, but I don’t understand why Tan Ky district authorities let it drag on from year to year, without handling it thoroughly. Meanwhile, the affected households are “sitting on hot coals” because of this delay. “The hot season has come, if unfortunately the whole forest burns down because vehicles cannot enter to put out the fire, who will be responsible?”, Ms. Tran Thi Ha was indignant.