Resolve the issues in Bai Dinh hamlet as soon as possible.

(Baonghean)Bai Dinh hamlet is located on the alluvial plain at the end of Hung Lam commune, Hung Nguyen district. However, this residential area is under the administrative management of Duc Quang commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province. This is the reason for the ambiguity and inconsistency in population management, causing more than 30 households in Bai Dinh to worry about being forgotten.



Mr. Nguyen Suu – a resident of Bai Dinh hamlet.

Mr. Nguyen Suu, a resident of Bai Dinh hamlet, humorously remarked: "Perhaps we should be proud because Bai Dinh is a hamlet located in the territory of three communes, two districts, and two provinces." The three communes are Hung Lam, Hung Phu, and Duc Quang; the two districts are Duc Tho and Hung Nguyen; and the two provinces are Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Situated on the sandbank in the middle of the Lam River, with the northern bank belonging to Hung Nguyen district and the southern bank to Duc Tho district, Bai Dinh is almost like an island.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hao, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Lam commune, the people of Bai Dinh have been encroaching on and settling in the administrative area under the management of Hung Lam commune since the 1980s. This is because, prior to this, Duc Quang commune had over 40 hectares of land encroached upon in the alluvial plain of Hung Lam commune. This encroachment progressed to permanent settlement. Mr. Chu Dinh Luu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Duc Quang commune, Duc Tho district, also stated that while the encroachment is a violation of the law, the residence of people from Ha Tinh province in the Bai Dinh area has a long history. In 1945, seven households from Co village, Quang Du hamlet, Duc Quang commune, were already residing there. Through on-site investigation in Bai Dinh hamlet, residents stated that they officially relocated in 1985. "We came here following the resettlement policy of Nghe Tinh province (which hadn't been separated at that time), but now nobody cares," said Mr. Nguyen Suu, a resident of Bai Dinh hamlet, shaking his head in frustration.

Currently, 32 households with 104 people in Bai Dinh hamlet are cultivating crops on approximately 60 hectares of land. According to the regulations of Duc Quang commune, the people of Bai Dinh are cultivating two types of land: annual land and leased land. Annual land is garden land or reclaimed land with unstable cultivation due to its dependence on the river's erosion and sedimentation; while leased land is land for long-term production. Accordingly, each person is allocated 1.6 sao (approximately 1600 square meters) of leased land and must pay an annual tax equivalent to 24 kg of rice per person. For annual production land, households participating in production must pay between 8 kg and 13 kg of peanuts per sao (depending on the land's location).



This is the house of a family in Bai Dinh hamlet.

Besides agricultural taxes, the people of Bai Dinh also have to pay four other funds: national defense and security, children, poverty, and health. All obligations are fulfilled at Duc Quang commune. Mr. Nguyen Van Dong said: “Although we are citizens of Duc Quang commune, the households in Bai Dinh receive nothing from the local government. Our daily lives are completely self-sufficient. To carry out administrative procedures, get official stamps, or register births and deaths, we have to cross the river. That's why each household has equipped itself with a boat to both fulfill its obligations to the State and to protect against annual flooding. However, people's travel has been quite difficult and dangerous, especially during the rainy season.” Mr. Le Xuan Vy, the head of Bai Dinh hamlet, said that if people don't travel by boat to get to the commune, their only option is to cross over 30km via the Ben Thuy bridge to reach the other side of the river.

Although they are registered residents of Ha Tinh province, the children of the people of Bai Dinh are studying in Hung Lam commune.

To resolve the existing problems in Bai Dinh hamlet, the authorities of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces once considered merging the hamlet into Hung Lam commune. However, the residents of Bai Dinh disagreed. They feared that the area of ​​their cultivated land would be reduced due to redistribution. To this day, two opposing viewpoints remain within the hamlet regarding whether to merge with Hung Lam or remain as before. In reality, because they haven't fully utilized their land, the residents of Bai Dinh have been renting it out to households in Hung Lam and Hung Phu communes for production, at an average price of 500,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement).

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hao, the local government's stance is that if the province mandates it, the commune will comply with the acceptance and management of Bai Dinh hamlet, but in reality, the commune has no desire to accept it. This is because the hamlet is isolated outside the dike, far from the administrative area, and the commune cannot cope during the rainy season and floods. Conversely, Mr. Chu Dinh Luu stated that because the residents have not yet agreed on becoming citizens of Nghe An province, the commune has no other choice. According to Mr. Luu, since the National Program on New Rural Development, Bai Dinh hamlet is no longer an independent administrative organization but has merged with Trung Thanh village and become a production team of that village. However, in essence, all activities and living conditions in Bai Dinh remain unchanged. The hamlet has two Party members who continue to participate in activities with the Trung Thanh village Party branch as before. Other mass organizations are absent. Perhaps the only positive thing that the people of Bai Dinh have ever received from the local government's policies is that they don't have to pay any fees to implement the New Rural Development Program in Trung Thanh village on the other side of the river.

To resolve the issues in the Bai Dinh residential area, the current challenge is for the local authorities of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces to reach a consensus on the policy; based on specific conditions, they should disseminate information and encourage residents to implement the merger, ensuring the rights of each household while also facilitating effective population management by the local authorities.

Dao Tuan