Regarding the collection of fees for using burial grounds at Nam Dan Town Cemetery

(Baonghean) -Nghe An Newspaper No. 9428 published on May 21, 2013, in the section "Hotline Information" reported: "Recently, the People's Committee of Nam Dan Town issued a document, in which it is stipulated that all people with permanent residence in Nam Dan Town who die and want to be buried in the Town cemetery must pay 5 million VND, and people from other localities must pay 15 million VND. The purpose of this regulation is to contribute to the construction of the cemetery, but according to the people's opinion, this is unreasonable, because the contribution must be voluntary and cannot be compulsory."

On June 13, 2013, Nam Dan Town People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 10/CV-UBND in response to Nghe An Newspaper as follows:

Pursuant to Decision No. 3060/QD-BNN-XD, dated October 7, 2008 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on approving the investment project to upgrade and expand Nam Dan sluice and canal system, phase 1 of new construction of Nam Dan 2 sluice, Nghe An province. In 2008, the State implemented the construction of Nam Dan 2 sluice irrigation project.

During the project implementation, the State has prepared a dossier and compensation plan for land acquisition and compensation for the entire area of ​​Nam Dan Town Cemetery in Con Nay commune. After that, Nam Dan District People's Committee has planned a new Cemetery in Cay Du, Hamlet 8, Nam Thai Commune with a total area of ​​1.2 hectares. The total cost of compensation and cemetery construction is nearly 7 billion VND, taken from the local budget and the district's support capital. The project was completed and put into use in January 2013. To strengthen the State's management of cemeteries, in June 2012, Nam Dan Town People's Committee established a drafting team to develop the Regulations on cemetery management and use, headed by the Vice Chairman of Nam Dan Town People's Committee.

The process of organizing the drafting and soliciting comments from the people and related organizations followed the correct procedures. After the Draft Regulation was completed and sent down to 10 residential blocks for the Block Executive Committee to organize meetings to collect comments from the people. Receiving the people's opinions, the Town People's Committee compiled and completed the Regulation. Prepared a report No. 2 dated January 2, 2013 to send to the Town People's Council on collecting fees for using burial grounds - renovating graves at the Town cemetery. At the 5th session, the Town People's Council, after reviewing the report, unanimously voted to pass Resolution No. 04 dated January 9, 2013 with the following collection rates:

* For citizens with permanent residence in Nam Dan Town who want to be buried at the cemetery: First burial: 1,500,000 VND; One-time burial: 5,000,000 VND (Permanent burial without exhumation); Exhumation: 1,000,000 VND

For people without a registered residence in Nam Dan Town who want to be buried at the cemetery: First burial: 10,000,000 VND; One-time burial: 15,000,000 VND (Permanent burial without exhumation); Exhumation: 5,000,000 VND.

The collected money is managed by the Town People's Committee, used for accounting and settlement in full accordance with current financial principles according to the financial book system. Specific costs are as follows: Cemetery maintenance and repair, purchase of land and sand for lining graves, filling graves for burial of the deceased; Paying wages to the Cemetery Management Board, including cemetery management and protection, paying for incense at the cemetery on full moon days, new moon days and other holidays according to local customs.

Due to the current situation, the Town has no land to plan a cemetery, the new cemetery in Hamlet 8, Nam Thai Commune is narrow, while the spiritual needs of life are increasing, for the above reasons, to ensure long-term security, the Town People's Committee asks for the people's opinions to propose the above collection level for non-locals who, when they pass away and want to be buried at the Town cemetery, must pay a certain amount of money, in order to limit non-locals, not encourage non-locals to bury, and for the people of the Town, the above collection level is reasonable and highly agreed by the people.

The citizen's reflection that the Town People's Committee collects 5,000,000 VND for one burial is an incomplete reflection: The collection of 5,000,000 VND for people who need a one-time burial without reburial, this form of burial takes up more area (4.5 times the area of ​​land for reburial), so the collection of 5,000,000 VND is reasonable.

Thus, the citizens' opinions reflected on the Hotline Information section to your Newspaper may be due to not fully understanding why some high collection levels were proposed. The Town People's Committee would like to clarify and hope that your Newspaper will inform the person who sent the information to your Newspaper and the people.

First of all, Nghe An Newspaper sincerely thanks the People's Committee of Nam Dan Town for their timely response to the hotline information posted in the newspaper. However, Nghe An Newspaper would like to exchange as follows:

According to the provisions of Clause 5, Article 111 of the Law on Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees in the economic field, the People's Committees of communes and towns have the authority to: "Mobilize contributions from organizations and individuals to invest in the construction of infrastructure works of communes and towns on the principles of democracy and voluntariness. The management of these contributions must be public, inspected, controlled and ensure that they are used for the right purposes and in accordance with the provisions of law".

And according to Article 35, State Budget Law No. 01/2002/QH11 dated December 16, 2002 also stipulates: "In addition to the decentralized revenues as prescribed in Article 34 of this law, the authorities of communes, towns, provincial towns and cities are allowed to mobilize contributions from organizations and individuals to invest in the construction of infrastructure works of communes, towns, provincial towns and cities on the principle of voluntariness.

The mobilization, management and use of these contributions must be public, inspected, controlled and ensured to be used for the right purpose and in accordance with the provisions of law"; Clauses 3 and 4, Article 27, Decree No. 60/2003/ND-CP dated June 6, 2003 of the Government detailing the implementation of the State Budget Law stipulates: "3. When there is a need to mobilize voluntary contributions from organizations and individuals to invest in the construction of infrastructure works of communes, towns, provincial cities, the People's Committee shall prepare a plan and report to the People's Council of the same level for decision. 4. Revenue from mobilized voluntary contributions shall be accounted for in the local budget, managed publicly, inspected, controlled and ensured to be used for the right purpose, in accordance with the regulations on democracy at the grassroots level and the guidance of the Ministry of Finance".

On the other hand, according to Point b, Clause 1, Directive No. 24/2007/CT - TTg of the Prime Minister on strengthening the implementation of legal provisions on fees, charges, policies on mobilizing and using people's contributions, it is stipulated that: "For voluntary contributions to build infrastructure, mobilize contributions of social and charitable nature, it must be implemented in accordance with the voluntary principle. People's Councils and People's Committees at all levels are not allowed to issue documents requiring contributions, are not allowed to assign mobilization targets to subordinates, and are not allowed to link the mobilization of contributions with the provision of public services that people enjoy.

Direct departments, branches, sectors and People's Committees at lower levels to review and immediately abolish documents mobilizing people's contributions that are not in accordance with previous regulations.

In addition, Article 10 of the Ordinance on implementing democracy in communes, wards and towns also stipulates: “People discuss and directly decide on policies and levels of contributions to build infrastructure, public welfare works within the commune, village and residential group levels, with people contributing all or part of the funds, and other work within the residential community in accordance with the provisions of law.”

Regarding the above regulations, the People's Committees at the commune and town levels have the authority to mobilize people's contributions to invest in the construction of infrastructure works of the commune and town, but must be based on the principles of democracy, voluntariness and implementation of procedures according to the provisions of law, that is, the mobilization of people's contributions must be of a national nature in the town and based on the spirit of democracy and voluntariness. Therefore, the People's Council of Nam Dan Town issued a document, in which it specifically stipulates the level of land use fee contribution for citizens with permanent residence in Nam Dan Town and citizens without permanent residence in the Town but wishing to be buried in the cemetery, is not in accordance with the regulations on mobilizing people's contributions to build infrastructure according to the provisions of the Law on Organization of People's Councils; Law on State Budget, but is in the nature of an agreement on the sale of burial land between the government and people wishing to be buried in the cemetery.

According to the document, in reality, the land use fee contribution for people who need burial is a compulsory fee, leading to the case of people with permanent residence in the town who pass away but due to poverty or not having enough money to contribute to the government, why would the town government not allow them to be buried? If they are not buried, where should they be buried?

On the other hand, according to Clause 6, Article 33, Land Law 2003, land for cemeteries and graveyards is a case where the State allocates land but does not collect land use fees. Therefore, the Town People's Council's regulation on collecting fees for the use of burial grounds - tomb renovation at Nam Dan Town Cemetery is contrary to the provisions of Clause 6, Article 33, Land Law 2003.

Nam Dan Town People's Committee - Nghe An Newspaper