Nghe An: Many war invalids suffer because district officials 'missed records'

Waiting for the mode

For many months now, Mr. Vo Van Luu (75 years old, Dien Thinh commune, Dien Chau district), along with dozens of other war invalids, have been continuously going to the authorities to demand their rights. Mr. Luu is a 4/4 war invalid who served many years in the military. Whenever he heard about a citizen reception in Dien Chau district, he and his old comrades would rush to ask their children and grandchildren to take them to the district People's Committee headquarters to ask about the policy.

Mr. Luu said that in 2013, after receiving notice of a housing policy for meritorious people under Decision 22 of the Government, he and many veterans in the commune prepared all the necessary documents and submitted them to Dien Thinh commune. They then borrowed money to build a new house, but it was not until 2018 that they learned that, along with more than 50 other people in the commune, Mr. Luu was not on the list of beneficiaries. "We immediately went to the authorities to ask. But nearly 2 years have passed and we still have not received the support policy," Mr. Luu said indignantly.

For many months now, veterans of Dien Thinh commune have been "looking" for benefits.

Mr. Ha Huy Dong - Chairman of Dien Thinh Commune People's Committee said that in 2014, the commune completed the documents for 53 people to receive housing support and submitted them to the district. But then, their names were not on the approved list. Currently, many people are wondering, the commune has also petitioned the district to resolve the issue.

In response to complaints from the people, on August 6, 2019, the People's Committee of Dien Chau district established an inspection team to inspect the performance of public duties and tasks in implementing the list of additional beneficiaries of policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution facing housing difficulties according to Decision No. 22 of the Prime Minister.

The inspection team then concluded that in Dien Thinh commune, there were 53 cases that were not approved in the project. Dien Thinh commune People's Committee affirmed that it had submitted the submission, list and application of 53 households to the district's Economic - Infrastructure Department within the prescribed time. The documents were submitted directly to Mr. Phan Xuan Tuan, a permanent member of the district's Steering Committee, for synthesis and approval. Mr. Tuan was at that time Deputy Head of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Dien Chau district.

Checking the records at the Economic - Infrastructure Department, there are still 13 petitions of the people out of the 53 cases above. Through working with the secretaries and hamlet chiefs of the hamlets in Dien Thinh, they all confirmed that the households' records were submitted to the commune, not to the Economic - Infrastructure Department. Thus, the fact that there are 13 petitions of the households still kept at the department is the basis for confirming that the households' records have been received by the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Dien Chau district.

During the consultation and synthesis process, this department lacked inspection and review, so 53 cases in Dien Thinh commune were not included for the district to approve. In addition, through inspection, Dien Chau district also discovered that in Dien Minh commune, there were 13 households not included in the approved project; Dien Phu commune had 67 cases not approved in the project because the commune submitted documents late (the deadline for submitting documents was before April 25, 2014, but nearly 1 month later, Dien Phu commune submitted them to the district's Economic - Infrastructure Department).

District officials... negligence?

Explaining this, an official from the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Dien Chau district said that the process of receiving documents from policy families went through many stages, the number of documents was large, and the participating officials changed through many stages, so the preservation and handover were not consistent, leading to omissions and losses. Those who directly implemented the project at that time have also transferred to other jobs.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Mr. Le Manh Hien - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee said that the complaints of these veterans were completely correct. "It is really a disadvantage for them, these are all cases that should have enjoyed policies according to regulations. But just because the district officer in charge of compiling the records was negligent, their records were overlooked," Mr. Hien said.

Regarding the solution, the Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee said that the district is at a standstill. Because the housing program for meritorious people ended at the end of 2019. Now, it is not possible to supplement the records of these war invalids because there is no funding. Just counting the 53 cases in Dien Thinh commune, the amount of money to build and repair houses is billions of dong.

Dien Chau district leaders said that the responsibility for this incident lies with Mr. Phan Xuan Tuan - Deputy Head of the Economic - Infrastructure Department. However, 8 months have passed since Dien Chau district concluded the incident after establishing a public service inspection team, and the locality has not yet disciplined any case. "The viewpoint of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee as well as the leaders of the District People's Committee is to handle it strictly. We will handle it soon," said Mr. Le Manh Hien.

Commune Chairman Luu Kien (right) said that after withdrawing the money, the commune did not put it into the fund to pay people but used it to pay off debts.

On April 26, 2013, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 22 to support people with revolutionary contributions in housing. In Nghe An, 26,846 households benefited from the policy (13,748 households building new houses and 13,098 households repairing houses), with a total support budget of nearly 816 billion VND. This is a major and practical policy of the Party and State to ensure the improvement of housing quality, stabilize life, and enhance the material and spiritual life of people with revolutionary contributions. However, during the implementation process, violations occurred in some localities, causing public outrage.

For example, the incident occurred in Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong district). Accordingly, in this commune, 93 households were approved to receive Decision 22, equivalent to a support fund of VND 2,380,000,000. The People's Committee of Luu Kien commune then withdrew money three times from the State Treasury of Tuong Duong district with a total amount of VND 2.4 billion (VND 20 million more than the approved file). But by June 2019, when the inspection team of Tuong Duong district came to work, the commune had only disbursed VND 2.05 billion and had a surplus of VND 90 million in the commune's fund. The remaining VND 260 million was unknown "lost". "Because the commune had too much debt left over from the previous term, we took that money to pay the debt. Now we have returned it all to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the district after the inspection team requested it," said Mr. Vi Van Bang - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee. However, the Chairman of the People's Committee of this commune could not provide payment invoices or disclose specific debts that the commune had paid.