Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee clarifies the chaos at Con Diem Cemetery

After stabilizing order and understanding the specific cause, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Manh - Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee informed Nghe An Newspaper.

Problem

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Manh - ChairmanPeople's Committee of Vinh Tan Ward, the incident occurred at around 9:30 am on October 29, at the construction site of the Vinh Tan Urban and Commercial Service Area project invested by the Joint Venture of Trang An Construction Company and Mipec Military Petrochemical Company. At this time, the investor was clearing the site of Con Diem Cemetery in Tan An block, Vinh Tan ward. This is an area within the project construction scope, due to the process of removing the tombs of some households and individuals, leaving behind waste materials such as coffins, tombstones, etc.

Con Diem cemetery area at 10:00 a.m. on October 29. (Photo provided by Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee)

During the cleaning process, excavator operator Mr. Nguyen Van Quan (born in 1985, residing in Hamlet 1, Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City) discovered a blue plastic bag. Although he had not yet determined what was inside, to ensure the spiritual aspect, Mr. Quan reported to the investor and Mr. Phung Ba Thien (residing in Dai Nghia Block, Dong Vinh Ward), an officer of the Vinh City Cemetery Management Board. Afterwards, Mr. Quan and Mr. Thien bought ceramic coffins to put the plastic bag in.

The incident was known to some residents, who thought that the investor had affected the mausoleum at Con Diem Cemetery, so there was agitation and indignation. Upon receiving the information, the Ward People's Committee gathered the Urban Order Regulation Team and the Ward Police to go to the scene to verify the incident and suspend the investor's leveling and cleaning activities. At around 12 noon on the same day, the number of residents gathered here reached about 80 people. These people forced Mr. Nguyen Van Quan and Mr. Phung Ba Thien to bring the urn in a green plastic bag to the Ward People's Committee headquarters to request the authorities and the investor to resolve issues related to the rights and wishes of households and individuals whose relatives are currently buried at Con Diem Cemetery.

At 1:30 p.m., the Ward People's Committee and the investor's representative held a direct dialogue with the people (households and individuals whose relatives are buried at Con Diem Cemetery). Here, the people said that the investor was leveling the ground, affecting some tombs at the cemetery and had the following requests: The investor must immediately stop leveling the ground at Con Diem Cemetery; The investor must arrange high, clean land within the project area for resettlement of the tombs at the cemetery; Within 30 days (from the date of dialogue), the investor must have a solution and respond to the people; if the deadline is exceeded, the people will restore the tombs and will not agree to move to another location; Within 15 days, the investor must work directly at the scene with the households and individuals whose relatives' tombs are to determine the affected tombs for timely remediation and handling.

The chaotic incident took place at the Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee headquarters at noon on October 29. (Photo provided by Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee)

At the dialogue, the investor's representative, Mr. Dao Con Bach, acknowledged the people's opinions and promised to report to the leaders to have a written response within 30 days.

On the side of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee, during the dialogue, they asked the people to confirm the green plastic bag in the urn. However, no one claimed it, so the Ward People's Committee temporarily determined that it was ownerless; directed the relevant departments to temporarily return it to the old location for re-burying. At around 5:30 p.m., the people agreed with the handling plan of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee and dispersed.

There are violations

Regarding the Vinh Tan Urban and Commercial Service Area Project, the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 was approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in Decision 3551/QD-UBND dated July 26, 2016; with a total area of ​​40.47 hectares. For agricultural land, site clearance has been completed, and 36.04 hectares of land has been allocated to the investor. The remaining area is 4.42 hectares (including 2.37 hectares of residential land for 11 households in Tan Phuong block and 21 households in Yen Cu block; 0.14 hectares of production and business land; 1.9 hectares of cemetery land and irrigation traffic.

Dialogue session on the afternoon of October 29. (Photo provided by Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee)

For 1.9 hectares of cemetery land, scattered in some areas in the project planning area, including Con Diem Cemetery. To carry out compensation and support for site clearance, Vinh City People's Committee has issued land acquisition decisions; In 2019, the City Land Fund Development Center announced "On the relocation of graves" in Dam Dai, Dam Mu Buoi, Trai Co Tuan Khoat field, Dam Con Diem... on the media and press; Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee has also announced many times through the ward's public address system.

Up to now, 5 compensation and support rounds for site clearance for graves have been carried out with a total of 333 graves. Round 1 was approved with a total compensation and support of nearly 902 million VND/175 graves. In this round, only 1 household has not received money and has not relocated graves. Round 2 was approved with a total compensation and support of more than 1 billion 212 million VND/98 graves. All related households have received money and relocated graves. Round 3 was approved with a total compensation and support of nearly 246.6 million VND/21 graves. The related households have received money and relocated graves. Round 4 was approved with a total compensation and support of more than 182 million VND/16 graves. The households have received money and relocated graves. Phase 5 was approved with a total compensation and support amount of nearly 360 million VND/23 graves. In this phase, there is still 1 household that has not received money and has not moved the grave. Thus, after 5 phases of implementing compensation and support for site clearance for graves according to the approved plan, there are currently only 2 households that have not received money and have not handed over the site.

As for Con Diem Cemetery, with an area of ​​3,056.3m2, on August 31, 2020, the City People's Committee issued Decision No. 4841/QD-UBND on land recovery. However, despite multiple announcements, the relatives of the graves have not yet been identified, so relevant agencies have not yet organized an inventory to develop a compensation plan and support site clearance. Therefore, the State has not yet allocated land for the area of ​​3,056.3m2 of Con Diem Cemetery to the investor to build the project.

Con Diem Cemetery on November 1. Photo: PV

For the above reasons, Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee determined that the investor carried out leveling and cleaning at the above location on a day off (Saturday, October 29, 2022) without notifying or coordinating with the local authorities, which is not in accordance with current regulations. In addition, the fact that some subjects have acts of enticing people to bring the urine of others, not their relatives, to the Ward People's Committee headquarters, causing disorder and insecurity, causing public outrage, is against the law.

Recommendation for final settlement

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Manh, the Ward People's Committee continues to direct specialized departments (Urban, Land Administration, Urban Order and Regulation Team, etc.) to handle arising issues; assign the Ward Police to continue to monitor the situation and have plans to ensure security and order during the handling of the incident. In addition, the Ward People's Committee has also sent a detailed report on the incident to higher authorities.

Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Manh discussed the difficulties in compensation and support for site clearance of tombs in projects in the area. Photo: PV

The Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee said: "There are many projects being implemented in the ward, and most of them have mausoleums in them. When the projects come in, the ward listens to the opinions of the people, through which it recommends how to resettle appropriately, so that people can conveniently take care of their loved ones' mausoleums. However, in urban projects, there is no cemetery planning. On forums, the ward has proposed this content many times but has not yet been resolved. The reason is that the city has not yet planned a cemetery suitable for resettlement of mausoleums. Almost all families with mausoleums in the projects receive compensation and support to find land to rebuild.

Therefore, the ward also requests the Provincial People's Committee to plan the construction of a cemetery so that the resettlement of tombs in projects in the city can be facilitated. At the same time, to avoid incidents like the recent one, the ward People's Committee also requests that superiors have solutions to thoroughly implement the site clearance work at Con Diem Cemetery. It is requested that the authorities continue to clarify the cause of the incident on October 29. In case there are any subjects who deliberately take advantage of the incident to incite and incite, affecting security and order in the area, violating the law, they will be strictly punished.