In early August 2022, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than in Xuan Nam block, Hung Dung ward, Vinh city sent a petition to Nghe An Newspaper asking for help. He explained that his father was a pre-uprising cadre (1930-1931), a family with revolutionary contributions. He is currently worshiping his brother, a martyr. The land he and his wife are living on was left by his father, but for more than 40 years, they have not been granted a land use right certificate. This means that he and his wife do not have any assets to mortgage to do business, improve their lives, and provide for their children's education; they also cannot sell the land when the family needs to use a large amount of money such as building a new house or repairing a house, and have to live in a dilapidated, patched-up, makeshift house.
To verify the information presented by Mr. Nguyen Huu Than, we went to his house. Actual observations showed that the damaged and degraded state of the house where Mr. Nguyen Huu Than and his wife are living at No. 24, Phung Khac Khoan Street, Xuan Nam Block, Hung Dung Ward is exactly as he presented.
The entrance to Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's house goes deep into a small alley along the wall of a row of high-rise buildings along Phung Khac Khoan Street. The rain in mid-August 2022 had only started about 15 minutes ago, the winding S-shaped dirt road leading to his family's makeshift brick yard was full of mud and sand, making his shoes wet. Visiting without notice, when they saw us coming, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than and his wife hurriedly cleaned up the buckets and basins that were scattered in front of the yard, on the edge of the porch. Right in front of the main entrance, a stream of water poured down onto the yard because the corrugated iron roof was punctured. The ceiling and surrounding walls of the porch roof, some walls in the living room and bedroom were also starting to seep water, leaking in streams.
“If it rains this hard for another half hour, my house will not have enough buckets and basins to catch the water. For decades now, every time there is a storm, my whole family has not dared to sleep, for fear that the house will collapse. My husband’s heart disease is getting worse because of that,” said Le Thi Tuyet, Mr. Than’s wife, sadly. It has only been raining for less than half an hour, but the vegetable patches in front of the yard are already flooded. Next to the vegetable garden is a bathroom with moss and mold covering the walls, with an area only large enough for one person to stand with a small basin in the corner. Next to it is the kitchen covered with a corrugated iron roof, with rainwater almost reaching the cooking pot, surrounded by all kinds of baskets, trays, and packaging piled up haphazardly.
Mr. Than said that the house where he, his wife and daughter, who is currently a 6th year student at Vinh Medical University, are living was built in 1982. At the time of construction, due to financial constraints, his family only plastered the inside walls, leaving the outside as it is until now. Therefore, every time it rains, the walls are soaked with water. The house is built of two rooms, including a room just big enough to put a bed and a desk. The main room is also just big enough to put a small table and chairs, a bed and a wardrobe. To the west of the living room, right above the window, there is an altar to Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's brother, martyr Nguyen Huu Khoa (died in 1968). According to our observations, the wall around the altar of martyr Nguyen Huu Khoa has many horizontal and vertical cracks, threatening to peel off the wall and collapse the altar at any time. Not only around the altar, but also in many other places the walls of the house have cracked and the plaster has fallen off. The corners of the walls connecting to the ceiling in many places had long black water stains running from top to bottom.
The house is getting more and more seriously degraded, but Mr. Nguyen Huu Than said: “From 1982 until now, my family still has to live without sovereignty on the land left by our ancestors. After the house was built for a while, when there were signs of damage, and we wanted to repair it, the local authorities came to our house to inform us that our house was located in a relic area that needed to be protected, so we could not repair it but had to keep it as is. Many times I wrote an application to be granted a land use right certificate, but the cadastral officer of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee always replied that my house was located in a relic area so we could not be granted a certificate.”
According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's reflection: "In 2000, the Party and the State had a policy for each household to declare and apply for a land use right certificate, my family also carried out the procedures to be granted a certificate. But until now, it has not been done. Every time I have a reflection to the ward, I receive a response from the local government that the place where my family is currently living is the address of a historical revolutionary relic, so I cannot be granted a land use right certificate. There have also been a number of times when ward officials and officials of the Department of Culture came to my house to survey, look at the current situation and then leave, without any guidance to help my family."
To learn and verify the contents of Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's reflection, we met with leaders and professional staff of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee, Cultural Heritage Management Department, Department of Culture and Sports. According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Khanh - Chairman of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee, the current land where Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's family is living is located in the Red Village Relic in Hung Dung Ward. This is currently a historical relic ranked at the national level.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's father - Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien was a cadre before the 1930-1931 uprising, who participated in hiding cadres, printing leaflets and documents to serve the revolutionary struggle of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Therefore, the State has planned the location of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house to become a historical relic according to the Red Village Relics File established by the People's Committee of Nghe Tinh province and the Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum on April 26, 1990.
On the current land use planning map of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's family's land plot is plot number 03, map sheet number 33, with an area of 2000.6m²; currently the entire area of the plot is located within the protected area of the Red Village Monument. Therefore, the Ward People's Committee does not have the authority to resolve the issuance of a land use right certificate to Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's household.
According to the Red Village Relics dossier, Decision No. 84-QD of the Minister of Culture - Information - Sports and Tourism dated April 27, 1990, the Red Village Relics was recognized as a revolutionary historical relic in 1990 with 5 historical sites in Red Village, Hung Dung, including: Dam Mu Nuoi - the place where Hung Dung Party Cell was established; Cay Sanh of Nia Pagoda; Trung Communal House; Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house; Mr. Nguyen Sy Huyen's house; Mr. Le Mai's house. Article 2 of this decision clearly states: "All construction and exploitation activities are strictly prohibited in the protected areas of the relics that have been zoned. In special cases, the use of land in historical, cultural relics and scenic spots must be permitted by the Minister of Culture - Information - Sports and Tourism".
Discussing the reflections and wishes of Mr. Nguyen Huu Than, Ms. Phan Thi Anh - Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage Management, Department of Culture and Sports said that Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house is one of three cases located in the Red Village Relic. According to the provisions of the law, when the State plans an individual's land to become a historical relic, located in the national historical relic protection area, only with the approval of the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism, can the individual be granted land exchange or compensation elsewhere, if the ward or commune can arrange the land fund. In case the locality no longer has land fund, the Provincial People's Committee, directly the Department of Culture and Sports, is obliged to consider and prepare a dossier to propose re-zoning the relic that needs protection, after which the locality will issue a land use right certificate to the household on the remaining land.
Thus, the desire of families located in the protected area of the Red Village Monument to be granted land use right certificates is legitimate and specifically regulated by law. In fact, through research, we were also informed by the Department of Culture and Sports that previously, the entire land of all 3 households was located in the protected area of the Red Village Monument. Around the early 2000s, based on the requests of the households and on the results of the survey and re-evaluation of the current status of the relic sites, the departments and branches took steps to prepare a dossier to request the Central Government to approve the plan to re-zone the relic site for 3 households, including Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's household (ie Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house relic).
However, during the process of preparing the dossier to request re-zoning of the relic, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's relatives submitted a request to reconsider the division of inherited property, which was the land left by his father, including the land where Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's family was living. Due to the dispute, the land boundary had not been unified, so the authorities at that time temporarily postponed the assessment of the current status and re-zoning of the relic of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house, and only completed the dossier for the remaining two households.
In 2014, after the Central Government approved the rezoning of the Red Village Relic for the two relics of Mr. Nguyen Sy Huyen's house and Mr. Le Mai's house, based on the rezoning records, the Hung Dung ward government issued a certificate of land use rights for a part of the former relic land to these two households. For example, for Mr. Nguyen Sy Huyen's household, the entire land area of 875.1m² was previously located within the protected area of the Red Village Relic. After rezoning, "protection area I has an area of 139.5m², which is the area with the original elements that make up the relic", which is the area that must be protected. The remaining area of 735.6m² is located within protection area II, which means that this is the land of the household that has been granted a certificate of land use rights. And in 2014, Mr. Nguyen Sy Huyen's children and grandchildren were granted a land use right certificate equivalent to an area of 735.6 square meters.
Confirming that his brothers had previously complained about the land boundary, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than said that this was a sad thing. Mr. Than has 7 brothers and sisters, he is the youngest. The land that Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien left behind was divided among all 7 children, and all of them built houses or sold a part to build houses elsewhere, but all around Hung Dung ward. His brothers and sisters have all been granted land use right certificates, but his family, because of the location of the planned relic site and the dispute, "missed" the opportunity to be granted a red book.
Regarding the wishes of Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's family, the Department of Culture and Sports also affirmed: "The Department will promptly carry out the procedures to request the re-zoning of the relic site for Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house located in the Red Village Relic Site, helping the policy family enjoy legitimate rights". Chairman of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Khanh also affirmed that the ward will actively coordinate with departments and branches to soon resolve the rights of Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's family.