Many pressing issues in mountainous and ethnic areas have not received due attention.

On the morning of December 2, the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council held a meeting to review the report on the results of handling voters' opinions and recommendations before the 9th session of the Provincial People's Council, term XVII, 2016 - 2021, in the fields and areas of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas. Photo: Mai Hoa

Disagree with the resolution of the Provincial People's Committee

Examining the report on the results of handling voters' opinions and recommendations before the 9th session of the 17th Provincial People's Council, term 2016 - 2021 in the fields and areas of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas, the Provincial People's Council's Ethnic Committee basically agreed with the response and resolution of the Provincial People's Committee.

However, some members of the Provincial People's Council's Ethnic Committee said that there were contents of responses to voters' petitions that did not clearly define responsibilities, solutions, and a roadmap for resolution.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Hoang Viet Duong suggested that from pressing issues in mountainous and ethnic areas, the Provincial People's Council's Ethnic Committee should select them to include in the monitoring program in 2020. Photo: Mai Hoa

Deputy Head of the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council Luc Thi Lien said that voters of Con Cuong district reported a shortage of domestic water and water for production during the hot season and hoped that the province would support domestic water and irrigation works to meet people's needs.

However, the Provincial People's Committee's response to this issue was unclear, not confirming whether or not it would support, but only asking localities to strengthen propaganda work, instruct people to protect forests, protect water resources, and combine water saving and water storage...

Secretary of the Quy Chau District Party Committee Lang Van Chien disagreed with the response of the Provincial People's Committee regarding the continuous power outages in mountainous areas. Photo: Mai Hoa

Or the proposal of Ky Son voters asking the Provincial People's Committee to re-plan residential land, creating conditions for people living in the Nam Can International Border Gate area to have land for housing and service business activities. Although the Provincial People's Committee has responded to the implementation of land issues according to regulations; however, the reality in this area requires more practical attention from the Provincial People's Committee, especially the need for residential land and land for service investment to contribute to improving people's lives.

Also disagreeing with the response to voters' petitions by the authorities, Secretary of the Quy Chau District Party Committee Lang Van Chien reflected on the situation of continuous power outages in the area, with power outages up to 10 times a day and this situation has been going on for a long time in Quy Chau district. Meanwhile, the response of the Provincial People's Committee was that the power outages were according to plan, had been notified to customers in advance or were due to grid safety incidents and many other reasons. Mr. Lang Van Chien hopes that the Provincial People's Committee needs to clarify the responsibility of the electricity unit in this matter.

Management of the self-flowing water system in Tuong Duong district. Photo archive

Pay more attention to pressing issues

In addition to reviewing the report on the results of resolving voters' petitions of the Provincial People's Committee, at the meeting, members of the Provincial People's Council's Ethnic Committee also raised many urgent issues and recommended that the Provincial People's Committee intervene to resolve them.

Head of the Provincial Ethnic Minorities Committee Luong Thanh Hai reflected on the current reality that people of working age in many mountainous and ethnic minority areas mostly go to work far away, with an average of 300-400 workers per commune.

However, workers in this area mainly have junior high school or high school degrees, so jobs are unstable, income is low, especially when returning to their hometowns, it is difficult to find a livelihood.

From this reality, the Head of the Provincial Ethnic Committee recommends that the Provincial People's Committee and related sectors need to consider and have solutions to create sustainable livelihoods for people in mountainous and ethnic areas; along with that, there are solutions to provide vocational training for workers in this area.

Secretary of Tuong Duong District Party Committee Nguyen Van Hai reflected on the low-lying power grid system in mountainous areas, requesting the Provincial People's Committee to direct the Electricity Department to have a project to renovate and upgrade. Photo: Mai Hoa

Another issue that some members of the Provincial People's Council's Ethnic Minority Committee are concerned about is that there are currently 225 villages and hamlets in the area that do not have electricity; although this issue has been mentioned for a long time and voters have expressed their concerns many times, there has still been no specific solution.

There is also the situation of domestic water for people in mountainous areas being both lacking and of poor quality; electrical safety issues...

Also in the morning, the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council took time to evaluate internal activities in 2019, deploy tasks for 2020; listen to reports on the results of monitoring the planning and arrangement of concentrated residential areas in the implementation of investment policies for sustainable development of ethnic minority areas in the province from 2016 to present.