Many problems in considering the award of Resistance Medals and Orders

(Baonghean) -The difficulties in considering proposals for awards of resistance medals and orders to enjoy state policies are concerns of many people. Nghe An still has more than 10,000 cases that have not been recognized and about 80,000 cases that have not received bonuses according to state policies...

Mr. Tran Huu Canh, team 1, Phong Hao hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city said: The same age as me, we were all cadres, militia and guerrillas before. Among more than 10 people, there were people who used to hold the positions of militia platoon leader, youth union secretary of hamlets and all participated in patrolling, guarding and protecting key points such as oil depots, hiding places of ships along Lam river. After nearly ten years of dedication, there has been no policy until now. Recently, the State has a policy to consider awarding resistance medals and orders to those who have contributed to the revolution, and we are very happy. Partly because our contributions are recognized, partly because we also hope that after being awarded medals and orders, we will enjoy some policies of the State, social insurance policies when going to see a doctor. However, after going through so many procedures from requesting the original documents, requesting verification, meeting witnesses... but until now there has been no result even though more than a year has passed... Mrs. Tran Thi Chuong, team 1, Phong Hao hamlet, said: "I was the captain of the militia team for 10 years, contributing a lot to the commune during the resistance war. Now I am old, have stage 3 kidney failure, every month I have to go to Hanoi for treatment which is very expensive, I just hope to be considered for a medal soon to help pay for some health insurance."

Mrs. Tran Thi Chuong, Phong Hao hamlet (Hung Hoa), a participant in the resistance war, hopes to soon be awarded a Medal.

As a key area in the two resistance wars against France and the US, Nghe An is one of the provinces with the most families and individuals awarded medals in the country. From 1961 to 2011, implementing the State's policy, the province has carried out 4 times the awarding of meritorious subjects in the two resistance wars, namely 1961, 1981, 2003, 2006 and nearly 553,000 subjects have been awarded. However, although it has been implemented for many years, in the localities there are still many subjects due to various reasons, such as: lost records, not understanding the policy, going far from the locality... so they have not been granted or certified. Faced with that reality, since May 2011, implementing the direction of the Central Commendation Committee on resolving the backlog of resistance war rewards, the province has started to prepare records and consider rewards for individuals who have not been recognized before.

The implementation has received the support of the majority of people and tens of thousands of dossiers have been submitted by individuals. However, because this is the last round of supplementation, it is difficult to complete the dossiers to make them valid, because most of the original dossiers have been lost or misplaced. In many cases, especially those considering commendation during the resistance war against the French, due to the long time that has passed, it is very difficult to find witnesses. To ensure that the award is given to the right subjects and according to the right regime, some localities have requested policy officers of communes and wards to go directly to the Department of Internal Affairs to compare the dossiers, and invited cadres working in the Military Commands at the district or military region levels to check the accuracy. However, even in Vinh City, which is considered to have the best conditions, nearly 90% of the dossiers need to be supplemented. The process is so strict, but according to Ms. Phan Thi Phuong Anh - Deputy Head of the City's Internal Affairs Department: "When publicizing and posting to the communes and wards, 4 cases were still discovered that had to be removed from the commendation list because they had been commended before."

There were 128 cases that were found to be invalid after the commendation dossiers were sent to the Provincial Emulation and Commendation Board. Talking about this final round of additional commendation consideration, Mr. Vuong Van Khanh, Head of the District Professional Affairs Department - Provincial Emulation and Commendation Board, said: “This is a relatively complicated and difficult commendation consideration round, because the eligible cases have all been commended before. The remaining cases lacked documents, so the review took a lot of time and effort. For that reason, although according to the regulations of the Central Emulation and Commendation Board, the commendation consideration must end before September 2011, but because of the urgent time and heavy workload, Nghe An had to request an extension until the end of 2012 and therefore it was not until October 2012 that 10,309 dossiers for commendation of resistance medals and orders were completed to send to the Central Government and 5,422 cases for commendation of Certificates of Merit from the Provincial People's Committee”. Up to this point, the province has basically finished, but according to Mr. Vuong Van Khanh: People still have to wait for the Central Government to review the documents. Nghe An has requested a schedule and next month will directly go to the Central Emulation and Reward Board to review the documents again.

Thus, the process of considering and awarding a resistance medal or a certificate of merit takes a lot of steps and time, which also shows that this is an important task that cannot be done carelessly. Along with this final supplementary consideration, the payment of nearly 100 billion VND in subsidies to 3,119 subjects awarded certificates of merit by the Prime Minister, and 80,000 subjects previously awarded certificates of merit by the Provincial People's Committee is also facing many difficulties due to the limited provincial budget and the inability to balance revenue sources. Faced with this reality, the province recently sent a document to the Prime Minister asking for instructions so that the subjects can be paid soon (because many subjects are now old and weak). In addition, the province also proposed that these subjects be entitled to health insurance and funeral benefits. The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to study and propose to the Government.

Article and photos: My Ha