People long for resettlement

(Baonghean) -Implementing the project of raising dairy cows and processing milk on an industrial scale in Nghia Dan, TH Dairy Food Joint Stock Company and Nghia Dan District People's Committee coordinated to resettle affected households in the project area. However, the resettlement work was still slow compared to actual requirements. In this situation, Nghia Dan District identified 2013 as a key year to accelerate the resettlement progress.

Up to now, more than 650 households in 4 hamlets Tan Lam, Dong Lam, Nghia Chinh, Cuon Da of Nghia Lam commune and hamlets Son Ha, Son Trung of Nghia Son commune and Be village, Nghia Yen commune near the cluster located near the dairy farms of the TH Dairy Project have to be relocated. Therefore, right at the time of implementing the farm construction in 2010, the resettlement issue was raised by all parties.

After 4 times of cleaning, the well water pumped up by Ms. Nguyen Thi Long's family is still cloudy yellow.

However, up to this point, the households subject to resettlement are still waiting. We went directly to Tan Lam hamlet - one of the four hamlets of Nghia Lam commune that had to be relocated. All households wanted to move to the resettlement site, because their current residence was affected by the cattle farms, especially water and air pollution. For example, the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Long, Tan Lam hamlet, lives near the fence of the cattle farm, and her family's domestic water well is currently polluted. Every day, her family has to ask for water from other families for daily use. When we arrived, Ms. Long was using a water pump to clean the well. "My family has pumped water four times but the new groundwater is still polluted," said Ms. Long.

Mr. Tran Hong Ly - Hamlet Chief said: The whole hamlet has 14 households living near the cow farm, the well water is unusable. Through the reflection, TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company has supported 2.7 million VND for some households to buy water tanks and some other households were supported 500 thousand VND; the company fully supports the disinfectant to clean the well water for households in need. Currently, many families in Tan Lam hamlet only use well water for bathing and washing, and have to buy clean water for cooking. Another phenomenon that people reflect is the appearance of many flies. Mr. Nguyen Canh Nham, Tan Lam hamlet said: "Recently, there have been many flies, the company has supported 200 thousand VND for me to buy fly killer".

Because the lives of the people are affected like that, according to Mr. Tran Hong Ly - the hamlet chief, "The entire hamlet of 60 households wants to move to the resettlement area, only hoping that during the implementation process, the compensation price is both in accordance with the State's regulations and satisfactory to the people. The investor must also fulfill the initial commitment to the people in the resettlement area, creating conditions for the people to improve their living standards". Through discussions with the leaders of Nghia Lam commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Vinh - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: All households have agreed to move to the resettlement area. The people expressed their opinions that the resettlement program should be quickly implemented so that their lives can soon settle down and start a business, and their mindsets can be stable to build a life".

Faced with the above situation, through our research, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district has directed the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to conduct a land survey to build a resettlement area. And after consulting with the leaders of the District Party Committee, the People's Committee, the leaders and people in the resettlement area of ​​3 communes of Nghia Lam, Nghia Son and Nghia Yen, TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company has selected 2 locations in Yen Khang hamlet, Nghia Lam commune and Son Bac hamlet, Nghia Son commune. In addition, the Compensation Council of Nghia Dan district has also completed the inventory of land, houses and architecture of nearly 350 households that must be relocated in 4 hamlets of Nghia Lam commune. However, the compensation price is still waiting for the policy, so compensation has not been paid to the households.

Recently, the investor has agreed to plan and build houses for households in need of concentrated housing and plan accommodation for families who build their own houses. In addition, they also invest in essential infrastructure systems such as electricity, roads, schools, medical stations, etc. According to Mr. An, up to now, the investor is preparing to submit to competent authorities for approval of detailed planning of the resettlement area. Regarding the construction of model houses, the company has only consulted with people in 4 hamlets in Nghia Lam commune for the first time in 2010.

Thus, in reality, the progress of resettlement work is slow in many items, especially in the planning and construction of resettlement sites. Recently, on March 25, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district sent a document requesting the leaders of Bac A Commercial Joint Stock Bank and TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company to urgently complete the detailed planning of the resettlement area for submission to competent authorities for approval and build a model house to collect opinions from households, deploy the construction of resettlement area infrastructure and make compensation payments to households.

Mr. Vi Van Dinh - Chairman of Nghia Dan District People's Committee said: The resettlement issue was raised as soon as the project of TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company invested in the district. The Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the investor met and determined that this was an extremely urgent issue, the investor, the province and the local government focused on solving it as soon as possible. However, in the context of the implementation requiring a very large amount of funding, the district proposed to quickly build infrastructure for the resettlement area, then focus on relocating households living close to the farm fence first, then gradually implement to complete the resettlement work.

Article and photos: Phuoc Anh