How does the People's Committee of Quy Hop district respond to the illegal mining situation in Chau Hong commune?

Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT of Quy Hop District People's Committee has the following content:

Pursuant to Official Dispatch No. 683/UBND dated July 16, 2020 of the Chairman of the District People's Committee on the inspection and handling of the issue of Nghe An Electronic Newspaper dated July 16, 2020 reflecting: "Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An"; Official Dispatch No. 3441/STNMT-KS dated July 16, 2020 on the inspection and verification of the content reflecting the situation of illegal mineral exploitation. On July 17, 2020, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Quy Hop District People's Committee coordinated with Chau Hong Commune People's Committee to conduct inspection and verification according to the content of the newspaper reflection, Quy Hop District People's Committee would like to report the results as follows:

Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district responding to the illegal mining of stone ores in Chau Hong commune. Photo: Nhat Lan

1.Regarding the road opening images: In fact, the road leading to the point "... showing signs of quartz mining...", after working with the People's Committee of Chau Hong commune and verifying with local households, this road was opened by Mr. Nguyen Van Nam's family, residing in Poong village, Chau Hong commune, since 1997, to plant and transport acacia. Recently, about 15 hectares of acacia have reached harvest time, so Mr. Nam's family and some local households have upgraded, widened and lowered the height, making it more convenient for the process of transporting acacia.

This is the route that the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, after inspection and verification, said was "upgraded, widened and lowered in height by the people, making it more convenient for the process of transporting glue". Photo: Nhat Lan

2.Regarding the reflection: "the pile of rocks... signs of illegal digging and mining...", after checking the current situation, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment invited Mr. Nguyen Van Nam and the People's Committee of Chau Hong commune to work and found that: the actual situation is that these are orphan rocks, not large blocks, Mr. Nam arbitrarily hired an excavator, dug them up to renovate and level the ground to facilitate production, make a livestock farm, and grow crops more effectively. Currently, the above rocks are still left at the scene, the People's Committee of Chau Hong commune and related functional agencies have not discovered any vehicles transporting rocks out of the area. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam's arbitrarily using production forest land for other purposes (digging, leveling, and clearing) without permission from the competent state agency as prescribed in Point c, d, Clause 1, Article 57 is a violation of the 2013 Land Law. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the District People's Committee is advising the Chairman of the District People's Committee to handle administrative violations according to regulations.

Nghe An Newspaper reporter next to an "orphaned" stone. Photo: Contributor

3.Regarding the management work of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee: After receiving information from the people on July 14, 2020 before the newspaper reported (July 16, 2020), inspection team No. 104/QD-UBND dated May 24, 2020 of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee, on the consolidation of the inspection team to handle mineral exploitation and processing activities, land and environmental protection in Chau Hong Commune, when the Commune People's Committee discovered signs of illegal stone mining. The inspection team requested to stop all leveling, scraping, digging activities and not to transport them out of the area. Currently, the above mentioned stones are still at the scene, Mr. Nam has strictly implemented the minutes of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee and Quy Hop District People's Committee.

According to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, the tents of the subjects built in the area of ​​illegal stone mining were demolished by the Provincial Police Working Group on July 16, after verifying the information reported by Nghe An Newspaper. (Photo taken on July 27, 2020) Photo: Nhat Lan

Above is the inspection report verifying some contents that the newspaper has reflected. In the coming time: The District People's Committee and the People's Committees of the communes with minerals will continue to strengthen inspections, provide hotlines for officials and people to quickly grasp information, promptly handle illegal mineral exploitation activities, mineral exploitation affecting the environment, labor safety...

At the illegal stone mining site in Chau Hong commune, there are locations showing that the subjects used explosives. Photo: Nhat Lan

Continue to rectify the state management of natural resources and environment, especially unlicensed minerals. When detecting organizations and individuals violating, they will be strictly handled. If they recur, the case file will be transferred to criminal prosecution according to regulations. For communes and towns, if they allow many re-offending situations to not be handled thoroughly according to their authority or do not promptly report to the District People's Committee, the District People's Committee will report to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, and discipline the heads and related organizations and individuals according to the law.

The District People's Committee always accepts and thanks the press agencies for their feedback. All timely, accurate and honest feedback from the press and accurate information from the people is an important information channel for the District People's Committee to better perform the state management of mineral resources, environmental protection and labor safety.

(*) After posting the full text of Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, based on previous investigation and verification information and through post-inspection work carried out on July 27, 2020, Nghe An Newspaper will respond to the contents of this document.