People report recurrence of "sand bandits" on Lam River

Boats brazenly exploit sand on the Lam River. Photo taken on the afternoon of October 16 at the section of the river flowing through Ha Long hamlet, Thanh Ha commune, Thanh Chuong district. Photo: PV

Mr. Nguyen Huu Lieu - Former Secretary of the Thanh Giang Commune Party Committee, living in Lam Dinh hamlet, Thanh Giang commune, reflected: "At noon on October 16, I saw 5 large boats coming from the direction of Nam Dan to dredge sand right at the bank of Lam River, passing through Lam Dinh hamlet, causing the landslide to become even more severe, with some places having a landslide height of 7 - 8m. Every night, the sound of large motorboat engines roaring loudly all night long."

Having a house located next to Lam River, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Lanh in Ha Long hamlet, Thanh Ha commune said: “In the past two years, the landslides have been very strong, especially during the recent flood, the landslides were more than 10 meters deep, right up to the foundation of the house. We built stone embankments and planted reeds but still could not stop it because the sand suction boats brought their machines deep into the bank, many days the whole house shook. If this continues, we will not know when the house will collapse.”

Not far away is the house of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Binh, in Ha Long hamlet, Thanh Ha commune. Mr. Binh shared that his wife died early, he has no land to live on, he alone fishes on Lam river all year round, but in recent years, "sand bandits" have been rampant, causing a significant impact on the livelihood of his family as well as dozens of fishing households here.

"Many days we cast nets and fished in the river, but when we went to retrieve them we saw that the nets and fishing lines were torn because they got caught in the sand suction machine," said Mr. Binh.

A household in Ha Long hamlet is at risk of collapsing into the river. Photo: PV

Not only that, indiscriminate sand exploitation also causesPeople here are facing the risk of lack of land for production. According to estimates of people in Thanh Ha and Thanh Giang communes, in the past 3 years, the locality has suffered landslides of about 300 hectares of land for production along the Lam River, affecting the living space of people in the above communes with many unpredictable consequences.

The alluvial land area along the river bank through Thanh Ha commune, Thanh Chuong district suffered severe erosion. Photo: PV

Regarding the situation of sand exploitation along the rivers in the commune, Mr. Phan Van Lan - Chairman of Thanh Ha Commune People's Committee said: "The local government has coordinated with the district police to handle many violations of sand exploitation on the river many times, thanks to which this situation has calmed down for a while. However, recently, in the district, there are a number of docks licensed to exploit sand, some subjects have taken advantage of "following" to illegally exploit sand. However, the local government has not yet grasped the specific cases of violations to have measures to coordinate with relevant parties to handle them."