Many relics in Nghe An have discrepancies between the protected area and the current status.
(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, in Nghe An, many relics have discrepancies between the protected area and the current status. This causes difficulties in the management, conservation and promotion of the value of relics, and at the same time, affects people's lives.
The Story of Red Village Relics
As one of the sites belonging to the Red Village Relic Complex (Hung Dung Ward, Vinh City) ranked at the National level in 1990, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house relic is currently a wild garden, hidden deep in a small alley of Nguyen Gia Thieu Street (Vinh City).
According to historical records, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house was the place where propaganda documents of the Central Region Party Committee were printed, and at the same time, it was also the place where Party cadres were hidden. After the French colonialists discovered it, his family was arrested, the thatched house was burned down and all of their property was confiscated. Previously, there was a chay tree at the site, which was the place where the Party's documents were buried. Now, the chay tree has died, only the stump remains.

The current house on the relic land was built by Mr. Nguyen Huu Than, the youngest son of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien in 1982. In 1990, after being ranked as a National Historical Relic, because there were no clear regulations on the ownership of the relic, no decision to reclaim and no resettlement procedures, the land and house of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien were still left for Mr. Nguyen Huu Than to live and cultivate. Currently, Mr. Nguyen Huu Than's house has seriously degraded, many times the family wanted to repair and expand it, but the government had no legal basis to resolve it.

According to an official of the Nghe An Provincial Relic Management Board, in the case of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's Relic, the reason for the above-mentioned inadequacy is that when preparing the classification dossier, the conversion of residential land to relic land was not strictly followed. Currently, the area has a total area of 2,006m2.2, but outside of protection area I (the area containing the original elements constituting the relic), the entire protection area II (the area surrounding or adjacent to protection area I) on the map is still residential land, meaning that according to the Land Law, individuals living stably on that land, without any disputes, will be granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land by a competent State agency.
However, according to Clause 3, Article 32 of the Law on Cultural Heritage: “Protection zone I must be protected in its original state in terms of ground and space. In special cases where there is a requirement to construct works directly serving the protection and promotion of the value of a relic, the construction must have the written consent of the person with the authority to rank that relic. The construction of works to protect and promote the value of a relic in protection zone II for provincial-level relics must have the written consent of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, and for national relics and special national relics, it must have the written consent of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The construction of works specified in this clause must not affect the original elements constituting the relic, the natural landscape and the ecological environment of the relic”.
Also located in the Red Village Relic Complex is the Nguyen Sy Huyen House Relic, which is also facing many difficulties in zoning the relic's protection area. Previously, when ranking the relic, the entire protected area of the relic was thousands of square meters wide.2, but relevant levels and sectors did not convert land use purposes from residential land to relic land, and did not relocate or resettle households in the marker-setting area.
In 2014, the relic was adjusted to 875 m2However, because the land use purpose has not been converted, there have been disputes among descendants in the family for many years. If you want to convert to relic land, you must have the consent of descendants in the family.

According to the representative of Hung Dung ward (Vinh city), in the past, when recognizing relics, zoning was organized, but mainly on paper and there was no actual planning for use. The zoning process did not have specific instructions on how to use, manage and reclaim land, making it difficult to resolve arising disputes.
There needs to be specific regulations and instructions.
According to the report from the Nghe An Provincial Monuments Management Board, the province currently has 2,602 monuments and scenic spots, of which 492 have been ranked, including 6 special national monuments, 145 national monuments and 341 provincial-level monuments. There is a reality that many monuments have discrepancies between the protected area and the current status; there are 119 national-level monuments alone.
Regarding the relics in Vinh city, the representative of the city's Department of Culture and Information said: Currently, the determination of relic land, zoning, and adjustment of zoning for national-level relics ranked in the previous period such as: Dung Quyet Mountain Complex and Trung Do Phoenix Citadel, Red Village Relic Cluster, Vinh Ancient Citadel is facing many difficulties and obstacles; some relics in the management of wards and communes have not been zoned, marked, and have not been specifically identified as relic land.

For example, the Dung Quyet Mountain Relic and Landscape Complex and the Trung Do Phoenix Citadel were specially ranked as National Relics and Landscapes in 1962 without any ranking records. The zoning area was drawn by hand. Although the protected areas of the relics have not been clearly identified, households living at the foot of Dung Quyet Mountain have not been granted Land Use Rights Certificates and are not allowed to build or repair houses.
The Vinh Citadel relic has been in a similar situation for many years, and has only recently been allowed to be adjusted accordingly.Decision No. 4512/QD-UBND dated December 30, 2023 of the Provincial People's Committeeon "Adjusting the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 for the conservation and restoration of Vinh Ancient Citadel, Vinh city".
In addition to the relics in Vinh city, there are many relics for which it is difficult to determine the protected area, including many national relics, such as Thien Nhan Mountain Scenic Relic (located in Nam Dan district, extending to Huong Son and Duc Tho districts, Ha Tinh province, ranked as a national relic in 1962), Lam Thanh Mountain Relic (located in Xuan Lam and Hung Thanh communes of Hung Nguyen district, also ranked as a national relic in 1962), Le Canal Relic from Nghi Loc district to Vinh city (ranked as a national relic in 2016)...
In addition, some districts have a very high number of relics with discrepancies between the protected area and the current status, such as Quynh Luu district, which has many national relics such as Quynh Doi communal house relic, Thuong temple relic, Dong Xuan temple relic, Tam Mai communal house relic, etc.

Regarding the cause of the above discrepancy, according to Ms. Tran Thi Kim Phuong - Head of the Provincial Monument Management Board, when making records of monuments, especially those ranked in the last century, the speed of socio-economic development was not fully anticipated, so many monuments were zoned too widely, affecting the local socio-economic planning, leading to many difficulties in managing and protecting monuments.
On the other hand, in the past, when ranking relics, we mainly only delimited the overall area and estimated it. Measurements were done manually, so the accuracy was not high, leading to a large area deviation from reality.
Many relics, when classified, have zoned the protected area on plots of land of households that have been living and working there for a long time. This causes difficulties in the management, conservation and promotion of the value of the relics, and at the same time affects the needs of people's lives such as: People's daily activities; applying for construction and repair permits; granting land use right certificates, land use right transfer transactions, etc., leading to prolonged petitions and recommendations, especially for relics in Vinh city. In addition, in the process of considering zoning adjustments, there is also confusion between related laws such as the Heritage Law, Land Law, and Construction Law.
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Mr. Pham Cong Vinh - Deputy Head of Nghe An Provincial Monument Management Board
According to the leader of the Provincial Monuments Management Board, there are currently many monuments that need to adjust their zoning, but up to now there have been no specific guidelines on adjusting the zoning of monuments from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In some special and urgent cases, the Department of Culture has advised the Provincial People's Committee to send a document to the Ministry, recommending the adjustment policy. For example, in the case of Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien's house, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has issued guidelines on adjusting the protected zoning area for this monument; the expected area of the zoning area will be reduced from 2,006m2down to nearly 400m2.
To complete the adjustment of the zoning of the relic, there is still a lot of work to be done, such as converting the purpose of land use, or building roads to facilitate the division of plots if necessary..., involving many sectors such as: Natural Resources and Environment, Transport, Construction. This requires the synchronous and drastic participation of related sectors so that the Culture sector can adjust the zoning of the relic, resolving the shortcomings related to this relic. In general, in the long term, the Central Government needs to have guiding regulations, creating a favorable legal basis for localities in adjusting the zoning of the relic protection in the direction of both meeting practical requirements in the management, protection and promotion of the value of the relic, and linking it with local socio-economic development.
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Ms. Tran Thi Kim Phuong - Head of Nghe An Provincial Monument Management Board