Nghe An: Commune Vice Chairman discovered destroying 2.4 hectares of forest

The incident was discovered on March 3, 2019, after the Chau Phong Commune Forest Rangers patrolled the forest protection work in Sub-area 196, which belongs to the production forest land of the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board. At that time, they discovered that Mr. Vi Van Thanh (born in 1983) and Mr. Le Van Nhi (born in 1969), both residing in May village, Chau Phong commune, were illegally cutting down forest in lot 25, area 6, Sub-area 196.

Forest area in Sub-region 196, under the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board, was deforested. Photo: PV

On March 4, 2019, the authorities of Quy Chau district established a team to inspect the scene to determine the area of ​​forest that had been deforested. Thereby, it was determined that Mr. Vi Van Thanh had destroyed 24,985m2; for Mr. Le Van Nhi, it was 12,500m2.

The type of forest that Mr. Vi Van Thanh and Mr. Le Van Nhi destroyed was determined to be a production forest; mixed forest status HG2 (mixed forest of bamboo, reed, natural wood of the mountain soil). The volume of the area that Mr. Vi Van Thanh destroyed was 11,280 bamboo trees and more than 31m³wood; the reserve on the area that Mr. Le Van Nhi cut down was 4,650 bamboo trees, 17,725m³wood.

The state of the deforested forest is determined to be a mixed forest with bamboo, rattan and mountain wood. Photo: PV

On March 7, 2019, through a meeting to mobilize people to denounce, the authorities of Quy Chau district discovered 6 more cases of households encroaching on forest land in Sub-area 196 with the purpose of clearing and planting acacia trees. Through inspection, the area encroached by 6 households was nearly 6 hectares, belonging to the production forest land type, with a state of mostly vacant land. These forest land areas are all under the management of the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board.

According to the Quy Chau Forest Protection Department, since March 15, 2019, the Department has sent a detailed report to the Forest Protection Department. At the same time, considering the nature and extent of the violation, the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board has requested the transfer of the case to the District Police Investigation Agency for investigation and handling in accordance with the provisions of law.

Chairman of Quy Chau District People's Committee, Mr. Ngo Duc Thuan confirmed that the District Police Investigation Agency has received the file and is investigating to clarify the matter. The Chairman of Quy Chau District People's Committee clearly stated his point of view: "If there is an act of violating the law, it must be handled. If officials and party members violate the law, they must be handled even more strictly...".

On March 18, 2019, the Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 172/KL-TTrPC to the Quy Chau Forest Protection Department. It requested the Department to guide the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board to fully prepare a case file of the violation to transfer to the competent authority to handle the violation according to the provisions of law. Coordinate with the police and other competent authorities to advise the District People's Committee to promptly handle the case...