Nghe An: Commune falsely declares flood damage area to receive support money

People are supported, but the village chief does not know.

Reporters of Nghe An Newspaper received feedback from people in Nam Linh Commune, Nam Dan District, that due to the impact of floods after the low pressure in the winter crop in 2017, many aquaculture ponds in Nam Linh Commune were damaged. In this situation, the People's Committee of Nghe An Province allocated funds to support people to buy seeds to restore production after the low pressure in the winter crop in 2017.

However, according to the people, there are many irregularities in the list of supported households. People said that there are people who do not have ponds or do not directly raise aquatic products but still receive support money; some households even falsely declare the area of ​​ponds or lakes. In particular, many households, although living in one hamlet, received support with pond areas in another hamlet, while the hamlet chief did not know and did not confirm this list.

Headquarters of Nam Linh commune, Nam Dan. Photo: PB

The list of people given is quite specific, in hamlet 1 there is a case of Mr. Hoang Van Minh who has 500m2 of pond area but declared it as 2,000m2. Mr. Minh is also on the list of people in hamlet 4 who received support with an area of ​​2,500m2. In hamlet 7 there are Mr. Nguyen Dinh Than and Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, although these two men do not reside in the hamlet, they still declared the supported area as 15,000m2.

In hamlet 11, Mr. Phan Dinh Hoa's household was declared to have 15,000 square meters of pond, but this is an irrigation lake not eligible for support under Decision 48 of the Provincial People's Committee.

Notably, in the list of recipients of support money provided by the people, there is also Ms. Dinh Thi Hien (commune union officer) and Ms. Tran Thi Xuyen (commune statistical officer, living in Nam Giang commune). These two people do not have ponds but each person is declared to have 10,000m², each person received 7 million VND in support.

Following the list of households receiving support money, the reporter went to Hamlet 4, Nam Linh Commune. When mentioning this incident, Mr. Tran Hong Minh - Hamlet Chief 4 indignantly said, I did not sign to confirm any case in the hamlet whose pond area was affected by the recent flood to receive damage support.

Mr. Tran Hong Minh - Head of Hamlet 4 confirmed that the signature in the support request file was not his. Photo: PB

“According to the procedure, the application for flood damage support must be filled out by the residents and confirmed by the hamlet chief. But in reality, the hamlet chief like me did not know about this. The signature on the application is not mine,” Mr. Minh affirmed.

Mr. Minh said that after the people complained, the district inspector brought the file to work directly with him. According to the file, in hamlet 4, there were 5 people who received support for the pond area damaged after the storm, but only 2 people lived in the commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Chau and Mr. Nguyen Dinh Lam.

Of the other 3 cases that did not reside in the hamlet, he remembered the names of 2 people: Mr. Hoang Van Minh (in hamlet 1) and Mrs. Hoang Thi Quy (in hamlet 3). "Ms. Chau had a pond area of ​​about 8,000m2 and let her brother-in-law, Hoang Van Minh, contract it for aquaculture, but both of these people received support."

Inflating area to receive support

Mr. Phan Xuan Dong - Chairman of Nam Linh Commune People's Committee said that the initial record of the list and counting of affected households was done by the commune's agricultural officers. When the records were submitted for confirmation, the authorities also trusted the results of the officers so they did not discover that the records had many inaccuracies. "In many records, there were forged signatures of the hamlet chiefs," said Mr. Dong.

The Chairman of the Nam Linh Commune People's Committee affirmed that the incident was only discovered after the people filed a complaint with the authorities. "The commune's trade union contracted an area of ​​600 square meters, but Mr. Quang declared it to be 2,000 square meters. After the inspection team discovered the incident, they requested a temporary suspension of payment of this amount. The district inspection team is currently working and is expected to have an official conclusion by April 7, 2019. Based on the team's conclusion, depending on the level of violation, there will be disciplinary action against the offending officials in this matter," said Mr. Dong.

Speaking over the phone, Mr. Luu Duc Quang - an agricultural officer of Nam Linh commune admitted: "The process must be publicly posted at the hamlet's cultural house for people to know, the hamlet and the front commit and sign, but due to time constraints, it was not done according to the principles, I took shortcuts to meet the deadline. Regarding the false declaration of the union's pond area, because I did not have the data, I declared it more than 1,000m2. I was only wrong about the process, I did not take any personal advantage in this matter," said Mr. Quang.

Nghe An Newspaper reporter talks with Mr. Tran Hong Minh. Photo: PB

Regarding the fact that the hamlet chiefs did not sign the documents, Mr. Quang said that these households were contracted by the commune, the commune knew the area but the hamlet did not, so they had to do it for them. Regarding those who did not directly raise aquatic products but were on the support list, Mr. Quang said that these were ponds of the committee, the commune assigned the trade union to do, and the union chairman was the one in charge. Regarding the case of Mr. Phan Dinh Hoa, Mr. Quang said that because he did not know the province's regulations, he was still included in the list of people proposed for support.

According to the reporter's investigation, the area of ​​aquaculture ponds in Nam Linh commune that has been supported is more than 16 hectares, with an amount of more than 120 million VND for 88 households. Currently, 85% of this funding has been provided, more than 110 million VND.

“Currently, there are still a few households that have violated the principles and have not been granted support, 4 households have not received support, 2 union ponds, the commune has decided to stop paying. Today, the district inspector is inviting the hamlet chiefs to work to verify again, for households that did not register and declare initially, the district will take back the support money,” said Mr. Quang.

Discussing this matter, Mr. Dinh Xuan Que - Chairman of Nam Dan District People's Committee said that after receiving the petition from the people, the district assigned the District Inspectorate to establish an inspection team to clarify the matter.