National Assembly representative: People are abuzz about the merger of hamlets and communes.
In some hamlets and communes, despite four or five attempts at persuasion, the residents still refused to agree to the merger. Furthermore, the lack of a policy to address surplus staff is a major obstacle to the determination to merge communes that do not meet the criteria.
At the National Assembly forum, delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang (Nghe An), Secretary of the Nghia Dan District Party Committee, shared the difficulties encountered in the process of merging hamlets and communes.
According to Ms. Trang, people are currently very agitated about the merger, "people are talking about it even while drinking green tea, and they're talking about it while working in the fields" about the merger.
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| The Secretary of the Nghia Dan District Party Committee (Nghe An province) highlighted the difficulties in merging districts and communes. Photo: VH |
Ms. Trang pointed out the contradiction in the regulation requiring the merger of hamlets and communes that do not meet the criteria for area and population, while simultaneously requiring the consent of the people.
“In some localities, people disagree with the necessity of merging. They say our neighborhood is fine as it is, but it doesn't meet the criteria for area and population. This lack of consensus makes implementation very difficult. If we don't get at least 50% of the voters' approval for the merger, we don't know how to resolve it. In some areas, we've tried 4-5 times, but the voters still don't agree. We have no other option but to educate, explain, and persuade them,” Ms. Trang said.
According to Representative Trang, the regulations and guidelines state that when merging, very careful consideration must be given to the specific characteristics of ethnicity, religion, topography, and geography, but there are no regulations defining what constitutes these specific characteristics, while in reality, they are incredibly diverse.
Some local authorities consider it a unique characteristic, but higher authorities disagree, so the localities are requesting more specific guidance.
While acknowledging that this is the right policy, Ms. Trang suggested that targets for area or population should not be prioritized, but rather practical considerations should be taken into account.
In addition, the "fundamental obstacle" mentioned by delegate Hoang Thi Thu Trang is the regulations and policies for redundant civil servants.
The government issued Resolution 32/NQ-CP on the Plan for implementing the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units in the period 2019 - 2021.
“Whenever we go down to the local level, officials involved in the merger of communes and villages always ask about the regulations and policies for redundant staff. In principle, we have no basis to tell these officials what the regulations and policies are. This is one of the biggest concerns and obstacles in the communes and villages that have not yet achieved the merger results,” according to Ms. Trang.In Nghia Dan district, three communes have approximately 75 officials and civil servants; if they are merged into one commune, there will only be 21 people left, resulting in a surplus of over 50. Of those who have reached retirement age, only 10 have been persuaded to retire, leaving 45 surplus people whose fate remains uncertain.
Ms. Trang stated that although "Resolution 653/2019 of the National Assembly Standing Committee provides a 5-year roadmap (to address the surplus of officials), we also find it difficult to handle this workforce within 5 years."
More than a week ago, on May 15th, the Government issued Resolution 32/NQ-CP on the Plan for the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units in the period 2019-2021. Accordingly, from now until the end of the year, the whole country has about 7 months to reorganize 16 districts and more than 630 communes that do not meet 50% of the criteria regarding area and population according to Resolution 1211 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.
Due to the tight timeframe, local authorities are currently scrambling to finalize proposals, submit them to relevant agencies for approval, and gather public opinion... in order to be ready for implementation.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the National Assembly, Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan said that currently only Ha Tinh (a locality with a very large number of districts and communes requiring reorganization - 88 communes and 1 district) has contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs to discuss this issue. Because all localities have requested guidance, the Ministry of Home Affairs will send a working group to the localities to coordinate the implementation of this process.