Will consider handling individuals and organizations that wrongly confirm land use status in Nghia Dan

Reasons for people's reactions

Nghe An Electronic Newspaper issues dated June 9, 2023 and June 18, 2023 published the article "Need to clarify the licensing of sand and gravel mining on agricultural land in Nghia Dan" and "Irregularities in licensing sand and gravel mining in Nghia Dan"Recently, people in Tan Phu hamlet, Nghia Hung commune (Nghia Dan) have gathered together at the sand and gravel mine of Viet Hung Investment Construction Trading Joint Stock Company (abbreviated as Viet Hung Company) to prevent mining activities.

The reason given by the people of Tan Phu hamlet is that sand and gravel mining causes landslides on river banks and agricultural land, affecting people's lives and production. The people also protested against the decision of the Provincial People's Committee on granting mineral exploitation licenses and land lease decisions to Viet Hung Company. At the same time, they said that when granting mining licenses and land leases, the local government and the investor did not carry out compensation procedures, although the people had petitioned many times but it was still not resolved completely.

According to the report of Nghia Dan District People's Committee, the reason why Tan Phu hamlet residents obstructed the sand and gravel mining enterprise was because they suspected that the sand and gravel mining of Viet Hung Company would cause riverbank and agricultural land erosion. Tan Phu hamlet residents said that from 2005 to 2007, a number of illegal gold mining ships operated in the area where Viet Hung Company is currently licensed and leased land to mine sand and gravel. The residents were concerned that this unit would take advantage of sand and gravel mining to mine gold.

In addition, according to people's feedback, in the process of sand and gravel mining, some individuals and organizations used boulders, sand, and gravel to block the flow of Hieu River and Dinh River, making a road to transport minerals from the mine area to the shore. This changed the flow, causing landslides on the riverbank in Nghia Hung commune. Through field inspection, the authorities also discovered the gathering of boulders, sand, and gravel on Hieu River and Dinh River, making a road to transport minerals, causing the risk of landslides on the river.

Inquiring about this issue, we learned that on June 19, 2023, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district worked with the People's Committees of Nghia Hung, Nghia Thinh, Nghia Thanh communes and Viet Hung Company. In particular, the company was requested to coordinate with the People's Committees of the communes to clear the flow and restore the original status on the Hieu and Dinh rivers. At this meeting, Viet Hung Company also committed to clearing the flow, removing and moving obstacles on the Hieu and Dinh rivers before June 23, 2023.

However, in Document No. 850/UBND-TNMT dated June 23, 2023 on dismantling works and removing objects obstructing the flow of the Hieu River of the People's Committee of Nghia Dan District, it was informed that the dismantling of the stone embankment in the Hieu River bed area (in the territory of Nghia Thinh Commune) encountered difficulties due to protests from the people of Nghia Thinh Commune, with the reason that "this is the road across the river to the people's production land area". Therefore, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan District requested the communes of Nghia Hung, Nghia Thinh, and Nghia Thanh to coordinate in propagating to the people so that the relocation and clearance of the river bed can be carried out.

Regarding the matter on July 2, 2018, the People's Committee of Nghia Hung commune issued Official Dispatch No. 27/UBND-DC confirming the area of ​​44,242.3m²The land that Viet Hung Company proposed to lease is land managed by the Commune People's Committee, there are no trees, crops and assets on the land, no compensation for site clearance, no disputes or encroachments. Based on the opinion of the People's Committee of Nghia Hung Commune, on July 12, 2018, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan District issued Official Dispatch No. 499/UBND-TNMT, on confirming the area, land type, compensation, and support for site clearance for the sand and gravel mining project. Then, on September 5, 2018, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 686/QD-UBND on leasing land to Viet Hung Company in Nghia Hung Commune.

Thus, the confirmation of the current status of land use by the People's Committee of Nghia Hung commune on July 2, 2018 has caused many consequences. In addition to affecting the rights of people directly producing on the above land area, it also pushed the superior agencies into a situation of "doing wrong". This is also the main reason why people in Tan Phu hamlet (formerly hamlet 3) gathered together to protest in the area allocated to the mine by Viet Hung Company for many years.

Handling of responsibilities of relevant officials and civil servants

In fact, after the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 686 on leasing land to Viet Hung Company, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment was assigned to sign the land lease contract. However, because the People's Committee of Nghia Hung commune confirmed the current status of land use was incorrect, the handover on the field could not be carried out. Because when checking the field, the relevant parties were "shocked" to see that on the land there were still assets, which were crops of the people of Tan Phu hamlet, Nghia Hung commune.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district, the land lease is wrong, so the district is currently proposing that Viet Hung Company temporarily stop exploitation to resolve related opinions. Currently, the district has also sent a review report to the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, however, because the authority to lease land belongs to the Provincial People's Committee, how to handle it will be decided by the Provincial People's Committee.

Specifically, on June 26, 2023, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district issued Report No. 248/BC-UBND on the inspection and review of local people's feedback on the mineral exploitation activities of Viet Hung Company. In this report, in addition to identifying the reasons for people's objections, Nghia Dan district also recommended that the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment inspect, evaluate and review the results of mineral exploration in the mine area of ​​Viet Hung Company (because local people believe that this company is taking advantage of the sand and gravel mining license to exploit gold); consider adjusting the land lease decision and land lease contract for this enterprise regarding the land area that has not been cleared before leasing the land.

Regarding responsibility, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district determined to continue to propagate and dialogue so that the people of Tan Phu hamlet understand and create conditions for enterprises to exploit sand and gravel on areas without people's assets and crops. At the same time, consider and handle the responsibility of individuals and organizations involved in confirming clean land and submitting it to competent authorities for land lease to Viet Hung Company in violation of the law. Although these officials and civil servants are now retired or transferred to other jobs.

This is also a big lesson for state management agencies when they are assigned to carry out the task of confirming the origin of land before leasing land to enterprises. If they do not check carefully in the field but just sit at home and listen to reports from subordinates, it will easily lead to the situation of "one inch wrong, one mile off" and the settlement of the consequences will become more complicated and difficult.