Quy Hop focuses on handling mineral enterprises causing pollution at the headwaters of Dinh River

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Hoang Viet Duong chaired the meeting. Also attending were Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Department; representatives of the leaders of the Provincial People's Council's committees and a number of provincial departments and branches. Photo: Thanh Duy

Administrative handling of 3 cases

Currently, in Quy Hop district, there are 6 industrial clusters with a total area of ​​over 109 hectares and 6 concentrated stone processing areas attracting 134 enterprises, establishments, individual households and production families.

However, in industrial clusters, there are no solid waste collection and centralized wastewater treatment systems; businesses and production facilities handle the waste themselves, so environmental pollution still occurs in some places.

In addition, the district also has 71 industrial production facilities outside the industrial cluster. The People's Committee of Quy Hop district assessed that waste treatment at these facilities is very difficult to manage, and waste discharge into the environment is still complicated.

There are also 13 tin mines and 50 stone and construction stone mines in the area. The People's Committee of Quy Hop district said that in the past, environmental protection in the above mining areas has not received due attention, and there is still the situation of indiscriminate dumping of solid waste in some places.

For tin mining and processing activities, the direct discharge of wastewater into the environment affects rivers and streams, causing frustration for people, especially during times of rain and floods.

Tin ore waste is discharged directly in the production area of ​​Ha An Tin Company on Lan Toong Mountain, Quy Hop (Photo taken on October 15, 2018). Documentary photo

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, Vi Thanh Tuong, said: One of the key environmental solutions of the district is to focus on handling companies and factories that exploit and process minerals and cause serious pollution at the headwaters of the Dinh River (from Bac stream, Mai stream to Nam Ton bridge).

Since the beginning of 2018, the interdisciplinary inspection team of the Provincial People's Committee has coordinated with the People's Committee of Quy Hop district to inspect and transfer 3 cases of administrative violations to the District People's Committee for handling with 21 million VND.

During the period from 2016 to present, there have been 8 work accidents in the district, killing 13 people and injuring 5 others. The work accidents occurred in private companies and enterprises and were all in the field of mining and mineral processing, due to mine collapses, landslides and carelessness of workers.

The number of enterprises registered to participate in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance for employees is 184 units with 2,838/4,285 employees. In 2018, by June, the amount paid was more than 16.6 billion VND, with an outstanding debt of more than 3.1 billion VND.

Organize surprise, in-depth inspections

Speaking at the meeting, Head of the Culture - Social Committee, Provincial People's Council Nguyen Thi Thu Huong requested that the People's Committee of Quy Hop district inform about the direction, solutions and results of handling many issues related to environmental pollution in Quy Hop area, including handling environmental pollution caused by tin mining on Lan Toong mountain...

Comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Department spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Mr. Le Sy Hao - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district said: After the press reported, the district directly inspected and found that the tin mining license of Ha An Tin Company Limited was 423,246 tons of tin within 30 years.

However, the small settling tank was not enough to contain the sludge. After inspection, the district made a record and requested the unit to soon move the settling tank to the upper area of ​​Chau Hong dam.

Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of Quy Hop District People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Tung proposed that funding for environmental activities should not be included in the annual budget balance but should be allocated to spend on construction activities, environmental protection and handling of environmental pollution incidents.

Quy Hop District People's Committee also proposed that the province support and invest in the construction of solid waste and industrial wastewater treatment sites for 6 industrial clusters and 6 concentrated stone processing areas approved by the Provincial People's Committee.

Chairman of Quy Hop District People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Tung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Hoang Viet Duong acknowledged the efforts of Quy Hop district in State management of compliance with laws on environmental protection, occupational safety and hygiene, and policies for workers.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council also requested that the district coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to direct enterprises to properly implement the environmental restoration fund; check the number of employees who are eligible to participate in social insurance, those who are not eligible to participate in social insurance, and clearly state the violating units. The District People's Committee also needs to seriously handle violations of enterprises in the above fields; direct the social insurance and tax departments to strengthen inspections and urge enterprises to pay social insurance and taxes; organize surprise and in-depth inspections on environmental protection, labor safety and hygiene, and policies for employees.

Nghe An: “Dirty bomb” still hanging on mountain 2 years after dam collapse disaster

(Baonghean.vn) - Lan Toong Mountain is known as a place of environmental pollution through the collapse of the dam containing tin sludge of Nghe Tinh Nonferrous Metals Joint Stock Company in March 2017. Although after the incident, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Trade, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee paid attention to inspecting and rectifying, but returning here this time, the situation of tin mining causing environmental pollution still exists.