The resettlement commune, now,...

(Baonghean) - For us, Thanh Son (Thanh Chuong) two years ago was full of unpleasant events. The staff lacked cohesion; some key leaders committed numerous wrongdoings; economic development faced difficulties, while the people still harbored a mentality of waiting and relying on state policies. Now, returning to Thanh Son, although some concerns remain, we can share in the joy of the changes taking place here...

A positive sign…

Thanh Son commune has 1,181 households and over 4,800 people, but only 59.2 hectares of land are used for rice cultivation, 4.2 hectares for corn cultivation, and the rest is hilly terrain. However, the officials and people of Thanh Son have identified which crops are suitable for cultivation on this barren, arid land: acacia, cassava, and tea. Of these, tea will be the main crop, and indeed, tea plants have thrived in this area. Mr. Vi Tuyen Quynh's family in Tan Lap village has 8 sao (approximately 0.8 hectares) of tea plantations. On the rounded hillside behind Mr. Quynh's spacious stilt house, the tea plants are lush and green, neatly arranged in rows. Mr. Quynh's second son, Vi Van Thoan, along with a group of six laborers harvesting tea, stopped to recount that his father, upon returning to the area, immediately thought of planting tea to develop the family's economy. In 2008, they started planting tea, and harvesting began in 2010, but it's only in the last two years that it has officially yielded real value. Vi Van Thoan estimates that there are six harvests a year; each harvest yields 2.5-3 tons of tea, selling to traders for 12 million VND; the total revenue is about 72 million VND. After deducting all costs for labor, machinery, fertilizer, etc., the family earns a profit of over 50 million VND. He said: "Having a tea plantation provides my family with a stable income because the market is favorable. People in the village are now also starting to take an interest in developing tea plantations..." According to Party Secretary Vi Dinh Tan, with the attention of all levels and sectors, the industrial tea planting project in Thanh Son is being implemented. According to the plan, it will be implemented from 2014 to 2016 with a total area of ​​320 hectares. And although the land planned for tea cultivation includes areas already planted with other crops such as acacia and mahogany, and there are still some land-related issues, the people have planted over 30 hectares of new trees on the barren hillsides... Also regarding economic development, in the field of livestock farming, Thanh Son focuses on strongly developing the buffalo and cattle herds. Mr. Lo Trung Thong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Son commune said: Thanh Son commune advocates developing the buffalo and cattle herds to take advantage of the hilly area with abundant grass. To date, the entire commune has 986 buffaloes and 314 cows...

A lesson at Kim Lam Secondary School, Thanh Son commune (Thanh Chuong district).

A truly encouraging aspect of Thanh Son is the thriving education sector, with the dropout rate virtually eliminated. For example, at Kim Lam Secondary School, out of 276 students, only 3 were unable to attend school because their parents had returned to their hometown in Tuong Duong for work; the rest all attend regularly. The principal of Kim Lam Secondary School, Mr. Nguyen Van Luong, stated: "Thanh Son has many villages far from the school, such as Cao Son, Hoa Son, Hanh Tien, Kim Hanh... Some villages are as far as 6-7 km away, but parents encourage their children to attend school regularly." In the 2013-2014 school year, Thanh Son commune had 55 students who excelled at the provincial and district levels. Of these, Kim Lam Secondary School had 50 students who excelled at the district level and 3 at the provincial level. Regarding the teaching staff, the number and quality of teachers at all three levels are ensured...

...and the concerns

Despite the positive achievements, Thanh Son still faces some concerning issues. The Party Secretary, Mr. Vi Dinh Tan, frankly stated: "Compared to two years ago, officials here are now guaranteed benefits, policies, and social insurance according to regulations; in addition, officials who committed violations have been disciplined and forced to rectify their mistakes. However, some previously difficult issues in the commune have been slow to be resolved, and new problems have emerged." According to Mr. Vi Dinh Tan, these "problems" in Thanh Son include the former Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Council, who also served as the Party Committee Office (an official who was disciplined), delaying the handover of the Party Committee Office's duties. Furthermore, there was misrepresentation of financial funds, with the creation of false documents for payment totaling 18 million VND; and Mr. Vi Van Tham, a civil servant in the commune office, creating a list of debts owed to his family's restaurant since 2011, amounting to nearly 60 million VND. In early 2014, former Chairman of Vi Thanh Vien commune (now Vice Chairman of the People's Council) asked several commune officials to borrow 200 million VND from the bank for personal purposes, but instructed the accountant to use public funds to pay interest; there were instances of creating fictitious documents and forging signatures of deceased individuals in Nhan Thap village, and forging allowances for village management board officials and policy allowances totaling over 30 million VND; operational expenses for 16 villages have not been disbursed, amounting to 32 million VND; in addition, the demolition of 25 temporary houses, kiosks, and shops (including 1 shop belonging to a commune official, 5 to teachers, and 3 to village officials) in the commune center is facing significant difficulties. The process of allocating land for production to the people is still slow and ineffective. In many cases, agreements have been reached but then not implemented, causing difficulties for the commune... Mr. Vi Dinh Tan said: "The Standing Committee of the Thanh Son Commune Party Committee has listed the difficult and prominent issues of the commune and reported them to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee for guidance. The District Party Committee has also considered and assigned us to re-examine and review them to provide guidance. Currently, we are focusing on the review, however, there are some matters that urgently require assistance from the district's functional agencies..."

According to Mr. Lo Trung Thong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Son commune, the most significant difficulty regarding agricultural land is concentrated in the approved tea cultivation area. Mr. Thong stated: "The people are very interested and eager to implement the industrial tea cultivation project. However, land allocation is difficult due to the lingering issues of the old Management Board 2 (Hydropower Plant Management Board 2); in addition, there are still some farms belonging to people from outside the area within the planned zone that have not yet been cleared and handed over to the commune for distribution to the people for production." He also noted that in Thanh Son, some young people have received formal training and hold university degrees, but their skills have not been fully utilized. Mr. Thong expressed his concern: "Thanh Son has truly cared about the education of its children. We have made an agreement with the schools that if any child misses one or two classes, they report it to the commune so that officials can accompany the teachers to assess the situation and encourage parents to send their children back to school. Education in Thanh Son has made progress. But we sincerely hope that the higher authorities will prioritize the employment of our children who have received education, to provide encouragement and motivation..."

Hopefully, with the help of all levels and sectors, the collective of officials here will continue to promote unity, find solutions to overcome difficulties, resolve outstanding issues, build upon the achievements already made, and encourage the people to join in to make Thanh Son even more prosperous.

Nhat Lan