Vinh City needs to strengthen dialogue and thoroughly resolve prolonged complaints and denunciations that go beyond the level of authority.

On the morning of April 12, the Provincial People's Council's survey delegation led by Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council conducted a survey in Vinh city on the work of receiving citizens, handling complaints and denunciations. Photo: Thanh Le

Clarify difficulties and problems

After listening to the representative of Vinh city report on the situation of receiving citizens and handling complaints, denunciations, petitions and reflections of citizens, the members of the survey team discussed and evaluated the advantages, as well as pointed out the shortcomings and limitations of the Vinh City People's Committee.

At the same time, the survey team members requested the Vinh City People's Committee to clarify the quality of handling petitions, accurate classification, transfer of petitions to the right authority, consultation with superiors in handling petitions; results of handling petitions sent by the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee, assessment of handling petitions sent by the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee, complicated petitions, petitions with many people lasting a long time, difficulties and problems encountered during the handling process, etc.

Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee Ha Thanh Tinh spoke at the conference. Photo: Thanh Le

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa said: After reviewing a number of pending petitions related to land disputes and compensation for site clearance, the city's handling of them is still confusing.

Vinh city voters make recommendations at the meeting between voters and National Assembly deputies. Photo: Thanh Le

Clarifying the issues of concern to the survey team, Head of the Citizen Reception Committee of Vinh City People's Committee Phung Thi Ha affirmed: The City People's Committee has regularly monitored and supervised the responsibilities of officials and civil servants in performing the task of handling petitions, complaints and denunciations. The City People's Committee has had solutions to direct the resolution of crowded, complicated and long-standing cases such as: organizing dialogues with citizens, coordinating well with provincial departments, branches and professional agencies in handling petitions.

In particular, the city directed the City Inspectorate to develop a plan and conduct an inspection of the responsibilities of leaders in receiving people and handling complaints and denunciations at units, wards and communes.

Regarding petitions sent by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, prolonged petitions, and mass complaints, the Head of the City Citizen Reception Committee affirmed: The content of citizens' petitions has been considered and responded to many times by the City People's Committee, but citizens do not agree to continue sending petitions and the authorities still forward the petitions to the city.

Explaining the reason for the prolonged petitions, Nguyen Huy Hoang, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Vinh City People's Committee, said: The biggest difficulty in resolving petitions in the city is that the petitions are mainly related to land. However, due to problems in policy mechanisms and lax land management left by history, verifying the origin of land use before 1980 has encountered many difficulties.

Officials of Le Loi ward (Vinh city) handle administrative procedures for people. Photo: Thanh Le

Resolve cases legally but decisively

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien highly appreciated the Vinh City People's Committee for focusing on directing the work of receiving people and resolving complaints and denunciations of citizens.

According to the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Vinh City is the locality with the largest number of petitions in the province, so the city needs to continue to pay attention to directing the improvement of the quality of citizen reception and petition resolution. To do that, first of all, Vinh City needs to do a good job of classifying petitions from the beginning, handling them within the correct authority, and resolving petitions in accordance with the law but must be decisive.

For complicated matters, there needs to be coordination between functional agencies as well as superior agencies to have effective solutions; focus on promptly resolving problems arising from the grassroots, limiting the situation of petitions, complaints and denunciations that go beyond the level.

Besides, the city needs to strengthen dialogue with citizens to get to the bottom of the problem, and thoroughly resolve pending, long-standing cases and mass complaints.

From 2017 to the end of the first quarter of 2019, tThe total number of complaints, denunciations, recommendations and reflections from citizens that Vinh City has received is 5,544. The number of complaints under its jurisdiction is 4,093/5,544, accounting for 78.3%, of which the content of the complaints is mainly related to compensation, site clearance, land use rights, and land disputes. The number of complaints, denunciations, recommendations and reflections that have been resolved and answered is 4,740 (reaching 99%). The number of unresolved complaints is 55 due to problems and are within the settlement period.