The People's Committee of Vinh City responds to the issue raised by the newspaper.

(Baonghean)The online edition of Nghe An Newspaper, dated May 13, 2013, published an article titled "Vinh City: Pollution from Livestock and Poultry Slaughterhouses in Residential Areas," reflecting the issue: Environmental pollution at livestock and poultry slaughterhouses in Vinh City is a pressing problem, especially during the current complex disease outbreaks. Residents living around the slaughterhouses have repeatedly raised this issue, but it has yet to receive adequate attention from the authorities.

After reviewing the content of the newspaper's report, the People's Committee of the City issued Official Letter No. 2733/UBND-TNMT with the following response:

The content of Nghe An Newspaper's online edition reflects that the slaughtering of livestock and poultry in residential areas is indeed causing environmental pollution. In Vinh City, the number of centralized livestock and poultry slaughtering facilities is limited and has not been invested in comprehensively. Therefore, the situation of households slaughtering livestock and poultry right in their homes still persists, causing environmental pollution and affecting the lives of surrounding households.

The city has been planning, constructing, and operating centralized livestock slaughter facilities for many years to ensure environmental hygiene, food safety, and public health. Over the past period, the Provincial People's Committee and the City People's Committee have issued numerous directives and guidelines related to the management of livestock and poultry slaughter. However, to date, the city's centralized livestock and poultry slaughter operations remain limited and do not meet the requirements.

To address the issues raised in the newspaper's report, the City People's Committee has assigned the following tasks:

1. The Economic Department shall take the lead in advising the City People's Committee to expedite the construction of centralized livestock and poultry slaughter facilities in the area according to the approved plan; renovate and upgrade existing facilities to gradually meet the needs of centralized livestock and poultry slaughter; and strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of tasks by departments and units regarding the construction and operation of centralized livestock and poultry slaughter facilities in the area, and advise the City People's Committee on resolving difficulties during the implementation process.

2. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment shall provide guidance on environmental management in centralized slaughtering areas; coordinate with the Department of Economy, the Department of Health, the environmental police force, the City Veterinary Station, and the People's Committees of wards and communes to inspect environmental protection, veterinary hygiene, and food safety at slaughtering points and strictly handle violations.

3. The City Veterinary Station will arrange regular quarantine at centralized livestock and poultry slaughtering facilities; coordinate with the Market Management Board to strictly inspect and test all animal-derived food products, and severely punish products that have not undergone veterinary hygiene inspection, in order to thoroughly relocate livestock and poultry slaughtering households to centralized facilities.

4. The People's Committees of wards and communes shall preside over and coordinate with the City Veterinary Station and relevant departments to organize inspections and propaganda campaigns to encourage households to participate in slaughtering livestock and poultry at centralized slaughter facilities in accordance with the city's policy; In cases where households slaughter livestock and poultry in residential areas, causing environmental pollution, they shall be strictly dealt with according to the law.

The heads of the Economic and Natural Resources and Environment departments; the head of the city's Veterinary Station; the chairpersons of the People's Committees of wards and communes; and all relevant individuals and organizations are required to seriously implement this directive.

Vinh City People's Committee