“In the Dong De hill area of Nam Thanh commune, following the road to Vien Quang pagoda, there is illegal land exploitation. This area has cemeteries of local people, so we are very worried that illegal land exploitation may have negative impacts. We hope that Nghe An Newspaper will verify and report this to the authorities for handling…”. This is the information Nghe An Newspaper received in mid-September 2023 from a citizen living in Nam Thanh commune, Nam Dan district.
Along with this urgent reflection, the citizen of Nam Thanh commune also sent some more pictures and clips. As he discussed, it was to prove that the information was well-founded. Looking at it, we saw a hilly area that had been dug up with a fairly large area, and there was an excavator working to dig and collect soil. Agreeing on a time, we went to Nam Dan to inspect the Dong De hill area, but the next day, the citizen of Nam Thanh commune proactively contacted to request a temporary postponement. The reason was: “The weather was bad, there was heavy rain, the road was muddy, so we did not see any soil exploitation activities…”.
By the afternoon of September 18, a citizen of Nam Thanh commune reported: “Perhaps because the road to Dong De hill is still bad, there has been no sign of any soil exploitation activities. However, I received news that in Nam Thanh commune, in the Hong Coc dam area, there is a large-scale illegal soil exploitation. Recently, dozens of vehicles have continuously entered and exited to exploit and transport soil. People in the surrounding area are very upset because they operate openly, transporting soil, causing environmental pollution; while for people, just leveling the hill and moving soil to another place to make a garden is prohibited…”.
Asked a citizen of Nam Thanh commune: Is there a time when the reservoir area of Hong Coc dam is allowed to be exploited to the fullest to increase water storage capacity? The answer was: I also have some knowledge in this field, so when I heard the news, I did some preliminary research. There is no such thing…”. Contacting some officials of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, they confirmed that in Nam Dan district, there is no land mine licensed by the State for exploitation. The same goes for the reservoir area of Hong Coc dam, there is no such thing as being licensed for exploitation…
“If people have provided specific information about the illegal mining location, they should go to the field and verify it. We will send people to participate…” – an officer from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment shared.
On the morning of September 19, together with some officers from the Minerals Department (Department of Natural Resources and Environment), we went up to the Hong Coc Dam reservoir. The dam is located about 2 km from Dai Tue Pagoda, quite close to the new road connecting to Nam Dan town. At 8:45, walking on the dam body, we observed that the lake bed was dry, but there was a road leading down to it. In the lake bed, there were some light trucks stopping to rest. In the neighboring residential area, an excavator was slowly approaching.
Guessing that this was a group of "soil bandits" preparing to exploit, the group left deep into the residential area next to the dam to avoid detection. About 15 minutes later, using a flycam to observe the Hong Coc dam, they saw that the excavator had reached the area where the truck was parked and was "leisurely" scooping and grabbing soil. At the same time, two more large trucks appeared in the reservoir, "lining up" to wait for their turn to "eat" soil. Continuing to monitor the developments in the dam, we noticed that although the soil was being exploited illegally, the specialized motorbikes with full signs were operating very comfortably. It was as if the exploitation was authorized by the competent authority. Just like that, one by one, the trucks "ate" their fill of soil, leisurely revved their engines and slowly left the reservoir...
Faced with this development, after nearly an hour we decided to return to the road down to Hong Coc dam. At this time, exactly 9:50 am, a large truck had just left. However, at the bottom of the dam, there was still a large truck being excavated; nearby, there were 6 smaller trucks waiting in line to "eat" the soil. The officers of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment used their personal cars to block the road, with the purpose of not allowing the vehicles transporting illegally exploited soil to leave. An officer contacted by phone a person from the Nam Dan District People's Committee to inform them that there were "soil bandits" at Hong Coc dam, requesting that someone be sent to the scene to witness and make a record of the incident. He said: "We are present at the scene with the reporter of Nghe An Newspaper. We request that you call Nam Thanh commune to come to the scene to coordinate in handling the matter...".
At that moment, two middle-aged men on a motorbike from the residential area approached the group’s car. They asked to roll down the car window and asked: “Where are you guys from?” We answered perfunctorily that we were from the province, then asked again: What are your responsibilities here? “We raise fish at the dam” – one person replied and then went somewhere else, took out his phone and called someone and said: “Someone is here, they are filming, taking pictures…”. One member asked the other: Do you know that exploiting land like this is a violation of the law? Who gave you permission to exploit land here? This person was confused: “I don’t know…”.
About three minutes later, two cars arrived. Two men, about 40 years old, got out and repeatedly tapped on the car, asking to “talk”. Seeing that the members of the group refused to “cooperate”, they signaled for the vehicles to leave the dam. The heavy-duty vehicle, which had already “eaten” its fill of dirt, also stood upright to return the dirt to the reservoir and slowly went back up. Looking at the clock, it was 10:07. Since we did not see the district and commune officials at the scene as requested, we decided to “clear the way” for the trucks and excavators to leave…
Before what we saw at the Hong Coc dam reservoir, on the same day of September 19, we also went to some low hill areas in Nam Thanh commune. With the help of specialized staff, in a short time, we identified two more locations with exploitation status, including Dong De hill area.
As described by the citizens of Nam Thanh commune, the road to Dong De hill is close to Vien Quang pagoda. Although there are houses in this area, they are sparse and scattered. The location of Dong De hill with exploitation status belongs to hamlet 3, Nam Thanh commune, quite close to the cemetery of Nguyen Huu family. Entering the exploitation area, there are many traces of biting, scooping and wheel marks of transport vehicles that are quite new. The exploited area has a fairly large area, creating a flat area of up to thousands of square meters.2, the hill body has been cut and split, leaving a large hole with a height of 1.5m - 4m. This shows that the illegal miners have taken away a large amount of soil. Close observation of the area with illegal mining shows that there is an unfinished sewer and residential road construction. There, the soil has just been filled in, a fairly large volume. Faced with this reality, the members of the delegation shared the suspicion that the exploitation of Dong De hill soil was aimed at profiting from transportation costs and land filling in this project.
The second location is at some low hills in hamlet 4, Nam Thanh commune. The locations where the exploitation is taking place are all hidden behind people's houses, and it is necessary to use flycam to clearly see the exploitation situation. Through flycam, the team determined that in hamlet 4 there are 2 locations of hills where the land has been illegally exploited. The exploited hills were intentionally cut, leveled and leveled, creating a fairly large area. Also in this area, there is a project to divide residential land into lots, with infrastructure such as ditches, roads and leveling. Therefore, the team had similar suspicions as in the Dong De hill area, the exploitation of land is aimed at profiting from transportation costs and land leveling...
Because there were officers participating in the field, discovering the situation of "land bandits" at Hong Coc dam and some areas in Nam Thanh commune, immediately after that, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Document No. 6477 /STNMT-KS on "handling the situation of illegal mineral exploitation in Nam Dan district" to the Provincial People's Committee, Nam Dan District People's Committee and Nghe An Newspaper.
Document No. 6477/STNMT-KS affirms: “The Department of Natural Resources and Environment has received reports of illegal mineral exploitation in some areas in Nam Thanh commune, Nam Dan district (Dong De area, Hong Coc dam area). On the morning of September 19, 2023, officers of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, together with reporters from Nghe An Newspaper, went to the above locations and discovered illegal mineral exploitation.”
Citing the functions and tasks assigned in Directive No. 20-CT/TU, dated December 28, 2022 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on strengthening the Party's leadership over State management of minerals in Nghe An province; Decision No. 1562/QD-UBND dated June 1, 2023 of the Provincial People's Committee promulgating the action program to implement Plan No. 123-KH/TU dated September 12, 2022 and Directive No. 20-CT/TU dated December 28, 2022 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee; Decision No. 47/2017/QD-UBND dated June 1, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee promulgating the Regulation on coordination in state management of minerals in the province..., the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested the People's Committee of Nam Dan district to review and inspect the entire district in general and areas in Nam Thanh commune in particular on the situation of illegal mineral exploitation, and handle violations according to the provisions of law.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment also requested the People's Committee of Nam Dan district to effectively implement the direction of the Provincial Party Standing Committee in Directive No. 20-CT/TU, dated December 28, 2022, according to the content: "Heads of Party committees, authorities, heads of agencies and units assigned to manage minerals must proactively grasp the situation, focus on leading and directing the implementation of state management of minerals, ensuring security and order. Enhance the role and responsibility of management so that all violations of the law on minerals must be detected early, prevented and handled promptly. Resolutely and strictly handle, in accordance with Party regulations and State laws, Party committees, Party organizations, agencies, units, localities, cadres, Party members, especially leaders who are lax in leadership and management, take advantage of their positions and work positions to gain personal benefits or cover up, assist, intervene, and influence in any form so that people others commit violations of mineral laws, allow violations to occur or fail to resolutely handle violations after discovering violations of mineral laws in the area...".
At the same time, it is requested to report the results of inspection and handling of illegal mineral exploitation, and handle violations according to the provisions of law to the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Nghe An Newspaper before September 26, 2023.
On September 19 and 20, Nghe An Newspaper also published some information about the situation of "land bandits" in the Hong Coc dam reservoir and verified locations in Nam Thanh commune. Before the information reported by the newspaper, there were many opinions that there was an abnormal problem behind the "land bandits". Because with the number of motorbikes and the method of exploiting land on the Hong Coc dam, there would be no way to bypass the local government and functional agencies! Indeed, Directive No. 20-CT/TU of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on strengthening the Party's leadership over State management of minerals in the province was issued exactly 9 months ago. Therefore, it is difficult to explain why "land bandits" dare to act in broad daylight on the Hong Coc dam. The Party Committee and the Nam Dan district government need to clarify this issue to have an answer!