"Tangled" garbage

(Baonghean) - As a first-class urban area, the leading political and economic center of the province, Vinh City is making strong movements to become the economic and cultural center of the North Central region. However, the urban picture of Vinh still has many "patches" of confusion, making those who are interested feel sad. The most critical is the situation of illegal dumping of garbage, causing disgust and unsanitary conditions on the sidewalks and sidewalks of many streets.

Trash everywhere

Ms. Tran Thi Nga has worked in Vinh City since 1976 and lived in Hung Loc Commune. In 2005, she retired and followed her children to Hanoi to live, but did not sell her house in Vinh. Every time she returns to Vinh, she visits many places and passes through many streets. What makes Ms. Nga sad is that the streets in Vinh City still have a lot of garbage. Mr. Le Cong Hoan, from Long Thanh (Yen Thanh), is currently a lecturer at Nha Trang Pedagogical College and is also a person who often travels to and from Vinh City. Mr. Hoan said that Vinh City's infrastructure is developing with many large-scale and spacious projects than Nha Trang, but there is one thing that seems very small but is a big problem for Vinh City, which is that Vinh City's streets and sidewalks are still inferior to many places, especially when the city has been upgraded to a class I urban area.

The feelings of Ms. Nga and Mr. Hoan are not a minority. Even we, who travel on the streets of Vinh City every day, have witnessed many unpleasant "real situations". Here are a few examples of those unpleasant stories: Recently, on the afternoon of December 11, on Quang Trung Street - one of the central streets of Vinh City, we witnessed a female worker of the Environmental Company collecting trash. After only a short distance, her garbage truck was already full. According to what we witnessed and the images we recorded, every few hundred meters there were several bags of trash thrown right on the sidewalk. At the corner of the street, where the Tecco apartment building and Quang Trung market turned into, there was also a very offensive looking dump. Some people digging for scrap said that they came here every day to search for scrap, because this corner of the street has long been a dumping ground for people in the surrounding area.

Collecting garbage on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street (photo taken on December 12)

On Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street - a large, specialized street, but when passing by, we always witness an "eyesore". Intermittently, there are scattered household waste dumps, along with construction waste, many types of paper, scrap decals gathered in a long row... On some other streets, we also witnessed similar scenes when the urban area was "attacked" by garbage. Right at the beginning of Le Hong Phong Street, near Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, a large area of ​​land right next to the street naturally became a place to dump garbage. And on Hong Bang Street, next to Hoa Hong Kindergarten, where Quang Trung Ward People's Committee has stipulated that garbage be dumped from 6pm to 9pm, by 3pm, there were already scattered packages, waste materials and household garbage...

Garbage on many streets has been piled up on both sides of the road for a long time, but it seems that it is not "cared for". In front of Naconex Nghe An Joint Stock Company (No. 38 Phan Dinh Phung), collapsed walls, large blocks of mortar, and boulders are piled up and covered with moss in the area separating the main road and the side road. In the afternoon, walking through seemingly clean and beautiful streets including Le Mao, Lenin Avenue, Truong Thi Street... most of them "showed" images of broken garbage bags, scattered tissues, scraps of fabric, fruit peels... Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan - an environmental sanitation worker on Quang Trung Street was upset: "The city only regulates garbage disposal from 6pm to 9pm, and it must be disposed of in the right place. But many households just take out the garbage whenever they have it. Many times, as soon as our vehicles pass by, they take out the garbage and throw it behind. This route has two cleaners on duty each shift, but they cannot collect it all because people constantly violate and dump garbage in violation of regulations...".

On Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, an environmental sanitation worker named Hoang Thi Hai Yen was upset: “Many households throw garbage on the street at any time. Many households violate the law and when we remind them, they even “retort” back, “If you don’t litter, where will you get a job?”. Some households take their garbage to other houses, other blocks or other wards to dump. Some households put their garbage right on the street in front of their houses...”.

Faced with this situation, Nghe An Urban Environment Company sent staff to regularly monitor and remind households that dumped garbage illegally. In September 2014, 22 cases were discovered, in October there were 13 cases, and in November there were 11 cases. From December 1 to December 12, 14 violations were discovered. Notably, among the violators, in addition to individuals and households, there were also schools, government offices, etc. That shows that although the city has been upgraded to a class I city, we still lack many exemplary class I citizens.

Violations must be strictly handled.

To overcome the situation of garbage being dumped in the wrong place and at the wrong time, causing unsanitary conditions and loss of urban beauty, the Urban Environment Company has proposed a measure to establish an inspection team to detect violations, record evidence, and make monthly reports to report to the Vinh City People's Committee. This report is also sent to the violating collective or individual and the name is read on the ward's loudspeaker to remind and note. Along with that, a report is sent to the Vinh City People's Committee and relevant agencies to coordinate in handling. This is a measure supported by many people, however, many households that violate the law are still "sluggish", not seeing their behavior as reprehensible. Some households whose names were read on the loudspeaker even called the company to threaten and scold. The handling of violations of garbage dumping is still not strict, not having a proper deterrent effect.

A long-standing solution is to strengthen propaganda and mobilization to raise awareness and perception of maintaining public hygiene and creating a civilized urban landscape. The Vinh City Fatherland Front Committee has coordinated with the Urban Environment Company to organize propaganda and mobilize people to dispose of household waste at the prescribed time on some main streets of the city. On November 7, 2014, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement to propagate to households on the streets: Tran Phu, Le Duan, Nguyen Du; Phan Dinh Phung, Nguyen Sinh Sac; Mai Hac De, Nguyen Trai, Le Loi, Quang Trung, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ho Tung Mau, Phan Dang Luu. However, many "exceptional cases" still violate the law. Mr. Hoang Van Khanh - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Nghe An Urban Environment Company said: "The street cleaning staff of Doi Cung was once threatened to be beaten because they were thought to dare to "pretend to teach life lessons" when reminding people to dispose of garbage according to regulations...".

To limit the situation of garbage "invading" the city during the day, in September and October, the People's Committees of Vinh Tan Ward, Ha Huy Tap Ward, and Hung Loc Commune sent documents requesting the City People's Committee to arrange garbage collection during the day on 7 streets, with a frequency of 1 time/day and to add the amount of sweeping and collection work to 4 other streets in 2015. However, the authorities said that "it cannot be done yet", because "budget conditions are forecast to continue to face many difficulties... The City will consider adding when there is funding".

During the process of researching the article, we received many concerns from residents and tourists: Is it possible that Vinh City is striving to become the economic and cultural center of the North Central region, but is "helpless" in dealing with the situation of daytime garbage that is causing unsanitary conditions and urban beauty? The answer is for the authorities, for the competent authorities.

Reporter team