Vinh City: Wedding hall blocks all the way

(Baonghean) - During the wedding season, many families in Vinh city have brazenly used sidewalks and streets to set up tents to hold wedding parties. Some roads have been blocked, forcing passersby to find other routes. This situation is common but there is no “cure”.

Danger lurks

Walking around the streets during wedding season, it is not difficult to see bulky tents erected on the road. Households living on the street side occupy the sidewalk or encroach on the road, households living in alleys set up wedding tents that "block" the entire road.

Ms. Hoa in Hung Dung ward shared: “There are many people who set up tents without any sense of responsibility, blocking the entire road. Motorbikes and bicycles have to rush onto the sidewalk to compete with pedestrians, and cars have to turn around and find another way. There are roads that are congested, thinking there is an accident ahead, but it turns out that… the wedding is blocking the entire road.”

Arbitrarily occupying the sidewalk to hold a wedding on Le Duan Street - a major street in Vinh City, regardless of traffic.

Not only does this situation cause traffic jams, it also affects the urban beauty. Not to mention, in some wedding halls, gambling and fighting also take place, affecting security and order.

Mr. Tuan on Le Duan Street, Vinh City sighed: "I know that family weddings are important, but I think that when setting up a tent, organizing, or arranging sound, we need to think about the community as well. Organizing indoors is already noisy, now taking it out on the street to play loud music, shouting for food and drink is really uncivilized." In addition, the problem of finding parking for guests, hanging electricity on the street to serve the wedding also has many potential dangers that make passersby shudder.

The main reason for the above situation is due to limited land fund, cramped houses, most families in the city have to "overflow" into the street when there is a happy or sad event to welcome guests. The problem is that when such an incident occurs, the management board of the blocks has not fully promoted its responsibility, reminding families to maintain good traffic in the alleys. The functional forces in the wards, communes, and cities also need to increase inspection, remind, and punish. In theory, that is true, but because in life they "respect" each other, households still set up tents right on the sidewalks and roads.

More effective solutions are needed

Faced with the situation of encroachment of sidewalks and streets for weddings and parties, wards in Vinh city have taken action to deal with this problem. Mr. Nguyen Phuc Trang - Vice Chairman of Hung Dung Ward People's Committee said:

“Every time couples come to the ward to register their marriage, the ward and the urban order team always propagate and thoroughly instruct families not to set up wedding tents encroaching on sidewalks and roads. Households are required to sign a commitment and take full responsibility if any traffic or security incidents occur.

Any households that violate the rules will be demolished and fined 1-2 million VND, and this will be used as a criterion for evaluating and classifying cultural blocks. However, there are still many families that violate the rules, but the handling process faces certain difficulties...”.

The wedding tent occupies the entire road on Pham Thi Tao Street, Ben Thuy Ward.

Ms. Tran Thi Ha, head of block 9, Le Loi ward shared: "There are still households asking for permission to set up tents for a short period of time, but in principle, the block and ward do not agree. When there are households violating, we come to persuade and advise them to strictly comply with ensuring traffic safety and order...".

In Hung Phuc ward, not only has it promoted propaganda to each household about this issue, it also has a very good way of creating conditions for households to borrow the block's cultural house or the ward's yard on holidays to hold weddings. This method has both overcome the problem of occupying the street and created a large space for households and neighbors to have fun together, strengthening solidarity.

However, to thoroughly handle the issue of setting up wedding tents is a very difficult task because of the "heavy sentiment" of the block and neighborhood. There are families who, with the excuse of "a person only gets married once in their life", still brazenly set up tents encroaching on sidewalks and roads, regardless of sanctions. Therefore, ending the activity of covering up tents and occupying the streets still faces many "obstacles" and cannot be completely handled.

Quang An - Phuong Thuy