Many irregularities in the management and use of forestry land in Quy Chau
(Baonghean) - Depleted production forests were assigned to people to renovate and replant for economic development, but then fell into the hands of another group of people. Not only that, a household was also "chased" out of the forest so that others could occupy the land and illegally build houses on forestry land.
Illegal construction on forestry land
In Na Xen village, Chau Hanh commune (Quy Chau), when asked about the forest land of Mrs. Ha Thi Hoa's family, many people were familiar with it. The villagers said that Mrs. Hoa was "chased" out of the forest by a group of people and then occupied more than 1 hectare of land that her family had reclaimed for more than 11 years. When the reporter arrived, Mrs. Hoa's family was preparing to build a house for her son.
Telling the story, Mrs. Hoa's son, Mr. Ha Van Phuc, could not hold back his tears and said: "Around Tet, two men came to see me. One of them called himself Hieu, a land officer of Chau Hanh commune, and said that this land belonged to the commune and the commune would reclaim it to distribute to others, and could only support my family with 20 million VND for the crops. I asked for 60 million VND because my family had reclaimed the land for a long time, but Mr. Hieu said it was not possible!"
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| Mr. Ha Van Phuc had tears in his eyes when talking about the process of reclaiming his family's land but then having it confiscated and receiving 20 million VND. Photo: Pham Bang |
The forest land that Ms. Hoa's family mentioned is located in Hua Na village, Chau Hanh commune, and was reclaimed by the family in 2008. On this area, the family dug a pond to raise fish, grew rice, raised livestock, and built a hut to look after it.
“At that time, I had just finished digging the second pond and had just built a hut. I was planting seedlings and preparing to plant rice, but I was forced to return the land. What a pity! Because all the effort the whole family had put in for so long was only worth 20 million VND,” said Mr. Phuc, adding that in 2014, the family was also allocated an area of forest land, but it was encroached upon by others, so there is currently no forest land for production.
"My mother went to the commune to ask for the land back, but they refused and said that if the family did not accept, they would only return the land and not receive any financial support, so the family had to accept it."
Not yet. It was thought that the forest land of Mrs. Hoa's family that was confiscated would be given back to people who had no land to produce. However, not long after that, people saw a stilt house with a green corrugated iron roof built. Surrounding it were new ponds dug by excavators.
According to the locals, the owner of this house is a businessman and an official working at the People's Committee of Quy Chau district. The house was built after Ms. Hoa's family returned the land at the request of Mr. Hieu - a commune cadastral officer.
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| A large production area with stilt houses and new fish ponds was built on the forestry land in Hua Na village (Chau Hanh commune, Quy Chau district) that Ms. Ha Thi Hoa's family reclaimed in 2008. Photo: Pham Bang |
Go to Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee to find out the truth about the land reclamation of Mrs. Hoa's family. At the office of Mr. Cao Hoang Hai - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, there were also 2 Vice Chairmen and Mr. Hieu - the commune's land officer. Mr. Hieu said that the forestry land was illegally occupied by Mrs. Hoa's family. Since December 2018, the commune has also notified the Management Board of 18 villages, requesting that families who are illegally occupying forestry land harvest their own assets on the land and return the land to families who do not have forestry land.
“I personally went to meet the family and asked them to collect the property and return it to the commune to give to someone else. Ms. Hoa explained her family’s difficulties, and that the land had been allocated to her before but had been taken over by someone else... Up to now, the commune has not yet reclaimed Ms. Hoa’s land,” Mr. Hieu affirmed, adding that he had not yet received information that someone else had built a house on this land.
Although Mr. Hieu affirmed that the commune had not reclaimed the land or given it to anyone, in reality, as Ms. Hoa’s family stated, the family had to dismantle the tents, return the land, and receive 20 million VND. This forestry land was later used by another person to build a house and dig a pond.
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| A road opened by a business in the middle of the forest for motor vehicles to reach the foot of the forest, serving the production process. Photo: Pham Bang |
The information that Ms. Hoa said also coincided with the information that Mr. Nguyen Duy Tra - a business owner in Quy Chau district said. Mr. Tra admitted that he was the one who gave 20 million VND to a man named Huy - a driver for the company and this man, along with Mr. Hieu - a land officer of Chau Hanh commune, came to give it to Ms. Hoa and asked her to return the land.
“I don’t know whether that land belongs to Mr. Huy or Mr. Hieu. I just told Huy that he would rent it or do the work himself, I didn’t meet Ms. Hoa directly.”
Regarding this issue, Mr. Cao Hoang Hai - Chairman of Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee admitted that the commune government made mistakes in land management. "The commune leaders have only just now learned about this incident, so for journalists to report it is no longer a mistake but an irresponsible job. I assigned comrade Hieu to fully grasp the information and have a specific report to resolve it according to procedures and regulations. If there is illegal construction, a decision will be made to suspend it immediately," said Mr. Hai.
Different from the perspective of the Chairman of Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee, when looking at the photo of the house taken by a reporter, Mr. Le Xuan Dinh - Head of the Forest Protection Department of Quy Chau District said that it was just a hut and this was "their right", he did not intervene.
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| The Chairman of Chau Hanh Commune People's Committee admitted his mistake and failure to fulfill his responsibilities when he was not aware of the incident. Meanwhile, the Head of Quy Chau Forest Protection Department said that this was just a hut. Photo: Pham Bang |
Collecting people's production land
Not only are houses illegally built on forestry land, in the above-mentioned area, there is also a phenomenon of dozens of hectares of forestry land being illegally transferred under the guise of "contracts" for economic activities. Not far from Ms. Hoa's camp area, located in Chau Phong commune, 4 households in Tam 1 and Xop Cam villages in December 2018 were allocated land by the District People's Committee and granted Forestry Land Use Rights Certificates.
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| Forestry land area assigned to people of Chau Phong commune (Quy Chau). Photo: Google Maps |
Specifically, Mr. Vi Van Hue in Tam 1 village was assigned 10.96 hectares; Mr. Vi Van Minh in Tam 1 village was assigned 11.23 hectares; Mr. Vi Van Tan in Tam 1 village was assigned 10.35 hectares and Mr. Lu Van Hoa in Xop Cam village was assigned 18.6 hectares. The forest status of the households assigned is DT2 (bare land with regenerated trees).
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| The land area allocated to households in Chau Phong commune for new planting and economic development is now being collected by others and cleared to prepare for planting acacia. Photo: Pham Bang |
According to the records provided by Chau Phong commune, all four households submitted applications to replace depleted forests with high-value forestry trees. The applications were confirmed by the commune and then sent to the Quy Chau District Forest Protection Department. The Quy Chau District Forest Protection Department established a team to inspect, determine the current state of the forest and have made an inspection report.
After having the confirmation minutes from the Forest Protection Department, if these households had cleared and planted new production forests, there would have been nothing to say; but in this case, these households had transferred these areas to other people under the guise of "coordinating" for economic activities and now this land area has been cleared to prepare for planting new forests.
Visiting Mr. Lu Van Hoa's house in Xop Cam village, we met his wife, Mrs. Lu Thi Hieu. Mrs. Hieu confirmed that in 2014, the family was temporarily assigned an area of 18.6 hectares and recently the family paid the money but still has not received the certificate. The family sold this land area to a man named Tung for 1.5 million VND/ha.
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| Ms. Lu Thi Hue (Mr. Lu Van Hoa's wife) confirmed that the family sold 18.6 hectares of forestry land to a man named Tung for 1.5 million/hectare. Photo: Pham Bang |
“Five or six months ago, Mr. Tung came to my house and asked if I wanted to sell the forest and said if I didn’t sell it right away, I wouldn’t buy it the next day. My family sold it cheaply, only 1.5 million VND/ha, while other families sold it for 5 million VND/ha,” Ms. Hieu said, adding that there were four other families selling like hers, including Mr. Lu Van Thao, Mr. Vi Van Dang and Mr. Vi Van Trung. Contacted by phone, Mr. Lu Van Hoa also confirmed that his family had sold this area for a period of 20 years, with confirmation from the commune.
In fact, the transfer of forestry land by the above households to others when the certificates have not been received can be legalized by joint contracts. Among these 4 households, Mr. Vi Van Hue is the person assigned to collect land from other households.
“I do not confirm whether Mr. Tung (official of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district - PV) bought the forestry land from Mr. Lu Van Hoa or not, but he assigned Hue (son of Mr. Vi Van Minh) to take care of everything, I just stood behind and did not go through the second person. Hue informed me that he had collected nearly 50 hectares and I have now ordered acacia seedlings in Binh Dinh to bring back for planting.”
Regarding the information that an official of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district was involved in the collection of forest land from the people, discussed over the phone, Mr. Ngo Duc Thuan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district said that the district had grasped this issue and then introduced the reporter to meet Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hoai - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the district to get specific information.
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| A forest in Chau Phong commune (Quy Chau) is considered a poor forest but has many trees with large diameters. Photo: Pham Bang |
However, Mr. Hoai said that he did not understand this issue and affirmed that the purchase and sale of forest land with forests is prohibited. The district does not confirm any cases of conversion or sale.
Thus, through the process of investigation, the hidden issues and even signs of violations in the management and use of forestry land in the above cases in Quy Chau were revealed. Indeed, at this time, like the folk song, if we want to be clear right away, we must only "have the forest land speak!...".
