Nghe An fines and requests to dismantle 'million dollar' pagoda encroaching on national relic

Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has just decided to administratively fine Linh Sam Pagoda 110 million VND and request the dismantling of the items.
According to the conclusion of the Provincial People's Committee, Linh Sam Pagoda was built with many violations such as: Occupying land belonging to the National Historical and Architectural Relic of Huu Temple (Thanh Yen Commune, Thanh Chuong District) with an area of ​​3,743 m2.²This act was fined 35 million VND and the Linh Sam Pagoda religious facility was forced to return the occupied land area of ​​the National Monument of Huu Temple.

For the act of constructing a structure occupying land belonging to the Huu Temple Relic, Linh Sam Pagoda was fined 55 million VND and forced to dismantle the violating structure or part of the structure.

For the act of occupying agricultural land that is not rice-growing land, special-use forest land, protective forest land, production forest land in rural areas with an area of ​​1,585.5 m²Linh Sam Pagoda was fined 20 million VND and forced to restore the original condition and return the encroached land.

Previously, on November 11, 2019, Nghe An Newspaper published an article reflecting on the sudden "sprouting" of a pagoda right in the historical relic area. According to the reporter's investigation, although the People's Committee of Nghe An province had just agreed to the construction of Linh Sam pagoda (with a budget of about 34 billion VND contributed by a business in Hanoi and some people), and had not yet been licensed, in September 2019, this pagoda was built right next to Huu temple (worshipping Nguyen Canh Hoan, a military general with many contributions during the Le Trung Hung period in the 16th century, recognized as a National Historical - Architectural Relic in 2009).

Linh Sam Pagoda was forced to be demolished. Photo: Tien Hung

After the 6 projects were built simultaneously, many members of the Nguyen Canh clan reacted because the pagoda encroached on the protected area of ​​the Huu Temple relic. After that, the People's Committee of the commune issued a decision to suspend the construction.

According to a report by the Department of Culture and Sports of Nghe An province, the protected area of ​​Huu temple was illegally built by the investor of Linh Sam pagoda, encroaching on an area of ​​5,700 m², including 6 items: Tam Quan gate, Tam Bao, To house, Ta - Huu Vu, Dien Mau and Nghi Mon.

Tien Hung