Destruction in the name of rice field improvement

(Baonghean) -For a long time, the water of Huoi Nguyen stream and Ch'Ha stream flowing through the communes of Yen Tinh, Yen Na, Yen Thang (Tuong Duong district) has always been turbid due to gold mining activities. The streambed and rice fields have been devastated by digging. Since the appearance of gold mining excavators, crabs and fish in the stream have gradually disappeared...

Chairman of Yen Na Commune People's Committee, Mr. Lo Hoai Tham, said that gold mining activities on these streams have been going on for 3 years now, the developments are very complicated and beyond the control of the commune government. The extent of the gold reserves is unknown, but it still attracts more and more businesses to dig. Dozens of kilometers of streambeds have been mercilessly plowed by gold diggers.

In Bon village, Na Pu village (Yen Na - Tuong Duong), there is a team of excavators working tirelessly from early morning until late at night. In the rice fields of Bon village, the excavators scrape close to the foot of the electric poles at the foot of the fields. Mr. Luong Van Tan, a resident of Bon village, said: Gold mining contractors have come to buy these areas of land, each square meter costs 120,000 VND. They "instruct" the households here to make a request to the commune government to "renovate" the rice fields to legalize gold mining on local agricultural land. With this trick, along with the fact that many people only see the immediate benefits of holding millions in their hands, and in addition, these rice fields are often flooded during the rainy season, so the gold diggers have easily bought the rice fields along the stream of Yen Na commune.

Mr. Tan added: There were also households that did not agree to let gold miners dig up their rice fields, but the village management board came to "persuade" them, so these households had to listen. His family was also "persuaded" to sell about 200m²for a company named Trung Tin located in Vinh City.

The floor was also dug up to search for gold. Photo: H.Vi

After a short period of “renovation”, many rice fields are left with nothing but rocks that cannot be cultivated. In Na Pu village (Yen Na), about 9,200 square meters of rice fields have been dug up and cannot be restored to production. Gold mining companies also promised households that are often flooded during the rainy season that they will invest in embanking streams and raising house foundations to help avoid flooding. In return, these households must move so that excavators can dig up their houses to find gold. When we approached Na Pu village (Yen Na), there was an excavator digging up the foundation of Mrs. Vi Ba Hoi’s house. Before that, this old lady in her 70s had moved to live with her son a little further up. Another excavator was digging up the foundation of Mrs. Luong Thi Dam’s house right next to Mrs. Hoi’s house. Two other households are also demolishing their houses so that excavators can dig for gold. While waiting for the gold mining companies to fulfill their promises, these households have to build temporary shelters to live in. Ms. Vi Ba Hoi said that every year, people's houses are flooded, so when a business promised to "help", people immediately agreed. Mr. Vi Van Minh, head of Na Pu village, said: "The commune has no resources to help people reinforce their houses to avoid flash floods. When the gold mining business proposed this solution, the local government agreed."

Another thing worth mentioning is that the gold mining site is also located right next to Yen Na 2 Primary School – Na Pu village. Students and teachers are also having to live with the noise of gold mining excavator engines, which significantly affects the learning and teaching of the school. And once the gold mining pits are expanding closer to the school, it is not difficult to see the direct risk to the safety of teachers and students here.

While the residents are having to stay in temporary shelters waiting for businesses to fulfill their "golden" promises, the stream bed continues to be widened, and this action is inadvertently helping the "water god" during the flood season.

A few days before we wrote this article, a flash flood swept through this gold mining area, causing damage to Yen Na commune of over half a billion VND. On the inter-commune road from Yen Hoa to Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, there was a landslide marked “DANGER” in Na Pu village, less than 10m from the excavators mining for gold.

Such indiscriminate gold mining is harming the environment. Residents living along the streams cannot use water from the large streams and must rely entirely on the natural water systems that often get clogged during heavy rains and floods. A resident said: “Previously, the large streams in Yen Na had a lot of cool fish. When the large streams became turbid, the fish that could only live in clear water all left.”

One puzzling thing is that the local government seems to be indifferent to these gold mining activities. The most bustling digging spot in Bon village, with the noise of excavators day and night, is only a few dozen meters from the house of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Yen Na commune. Talking to us, the commune chairman said that gold mining in the commune is beyond the authority of the commune government, because the unit that licensed these businesses to operate is a higher authority and "we cannot do anything" (!).

H. Vi – H. Lai