Improper cemetery construction, people sue commune for 5 years without resolution

Protracted litigation

In January 2013, according to the roadmap for building a new rural commune, the People's Committee of Tan An commune organized to collect people's opinions on the planning and construction of a cemetery in Do Luong hamlet, and the people agreed to implement it in a socialized manner, contributing 100,000 VND per household. In 2014, this cemetery was completed and put into operation with an area of ​​1 hectare.

However, in May 2015, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi, residing in Xuan Huong hamlet, Huong Son commune (a commune bordering Tan An commune), authorized her daughter, Le Thi Huong (residing in Tan An commune) to file a complaint about the Tan An commune People's Committee building a cemetery that did not meet the distance from households according to regulations on ensuring environmental hygiene, affecting the life of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's family.

In the petition, Ms. Le Thi Huong requested to relocate her house with a budget of 120 million VND. At that time, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi was working abroad in Arabia. In 2016, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi returned home and continued to complain about this issue at meetings with voters of Tan An commune, Tan Ky district as well as regular meetings with citizens of the commune and district leaders.

Do Luong Hamlet Cemetery, Tan An Commune, Tan Ky District. Photo: Hoai Thu

Verification of the actual location of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's house and the planned location of Do Luong cemetery shows that Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's house is located at the edge of a hill about 150 - 200m from Do Luong cemetery, separated from the cemetery by a ditch about 1m wide and deep, followed by an agricultural land planted with acacia trees of households in Tan An commune.

The cemetery is located on the top of a hill, formerly belonging to the production land of Mr. Le Van Tu's family. According to our observations, the area of ​​Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhi's house is not only near the cemetery of Do Luong hamlet, but also near the cemetery of Huong Son commune with a distance of less than 100m, according to Mrs. Nhi.

The cemetery of Huong Son commune is also planned on the slope of a hill next to the residential area of ​​Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhi, and existed before Mrs. Nhi built her house here. In addition to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhi's household, there are 40 other households located within a distance of less than 500m from the cemetery of Do Luong hamlet.

The reason why Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi has not only filed a lawsuit with the People's Committee of Tan Ky district, but has continued to file a lawsuit with provincial departments and agencies is because the requests in the complaint have not been implemented. Ms. Nhi said that she previously requested the People's Committee of Tan An commune to compensate her 120 million VND to buy land and move her house to another place, but later she did not agree with the compensation amount she requested, and requested to exchange the land.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi presents the contents of the complaint. Photo: Hoai Thu

Mr. Cao Tien Thin - Chairman of Tan An Commune People's Committee said that at the meetings to resolve Ms. Nhi's petition in 2018 and 2019, she requested that if the land was not exchanged, the commune must compensate her with 350 million VND so that she could move her house herself.

As for the Tan An Commune People's Committee's repeated requests to support the purchase of water filters, water tanks and rebuilding of auxiliary works for Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's family to overcome environmental impacts, Ms. Nhi did not agree. Talking to us, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi also confirmed this.

Why confused?

The reason for the prolonged complaint and confusion in the resolution stems from the fact that the People's Committee of Tan An commune as well as the consulting unit in the process of planning and constructing the cemetery of Do Luong hamlet did not fully understand the legal documents, leading to violations of safety distances for residential areas.

Specifically, here are the regulations in Decision No. 04/2008/QD-BXD dated April 3, 2008 of the Minister of Construction. Accordingly, the safe distance for rural cemeteries with residential households is 500m. Another reason why the incident has not been resolved yet is because the complainant, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi, continuously changes her request to resolve her rights.

Mrs. Nhi's residential area (circled) seen from Do Luong cemetery. Photo: Hoai Thu

From September 2015 to now, there have been dozens of meetings, dozens of directive documents from Tan Ky District People's Committee as well as notices to resolve the complaint between Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi and Tan An Commune People's Committee. In which, Tan An Commune People's Committee has proposed many solutions and reached an agreement to resolve with Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's household.

Specifically, regarding Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's request for compensation of 120 million VND, after which Ms. Nhi requested to increase the amount to hundreds of millions of VND, the People's Committee of Tan An commune said that the commune budget was not capable and did not allow payment. In addition, when consulting with the people about the plan to mobilize social contributions to support Ms. Nhi to relocate her house, the people of Tan An commune in general and 600 households in 5 hamlets that were allowed to use the cemetery of Do Luong hamlet also expressed disagreement.

Another option that Tan An Commune People's Committee asked Tan Ky District People's Committee for opinion to meet the request to relocate the house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi is that Tan An Commune People's Committee has planned to auction about 10 lots of land in the center of the commune. The Commune People's Committee proposed a compensation plan for Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi with a 200m2 lot so that Ms. Nhi can move her house to live on this lot. However, Ms. Nhi requested to be exchanged for 2 lots of 400m2. Tan An Commune People's Committee agreed with Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi and asked for opinion from the District People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. However, because of "stuck" legal regulations on compensation, relocation and resettlement, it had to be suspended.

At the meeting on March 3, 2020 between Tan An Commune People's Committee and Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi, to continue resolving Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi's complaint, the Chairman of Tan An Commune People's Committee said that the ability to support money to buy water tanks, water filters and repair the outbuildings of Ms. Nhi's family is 50 million VND. At the same time, Ms. Nhi's family will be supported to build a clean water system.

This content is also one of the instructions of Tan Ky District People's Committee regarding Ms. Nhi's complaint, as stated in Notice No. 26/TB-UBND dated March 2, 2020 of Tan Ky District People's Committee. However, Ms. Nhi did not agree, and declared to continue to complain on the grounds that sometimes people still secretly bury the dead in Do Luong Hamlet cemetery, and the commune could not absolutely prohibit it. Therefore, once again, the case fell into the same situation as before, unable to be completely resolved.

On the other hand, after receiving a complaint from Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhi, the People's Committee of Tan Ky district requested Tan An commune to mobilize people to temporarily stop burying the dead at Do Luong cemetery until the case was resolved. On June 22, 2016, on September 17, 2018, the People's Committee of Tan An commune issued a notice to stop burials at Do Luong cemetery. Up to now, there are about 30 graves buried at this cemetery.

People build a dike around the burial area of ​​the dead at the cemetery in Do Luong hamlet. There are currently about 30 graves buried in this cemetery. Photo: Hoai Thu

Obviously, Ms. Nhi's complaint is well-founded and the confusion of the Tan An commune government in handling the matter has caused Ms. Nhi to continuously change the solutions to the case. Acknowledging the difficulty in asking people to stop burying the dead at the cemetery, Chairman of the Tan An commune People's Committee, Mr. Cao Tien Thin, said that the government was "stuck" between the interests of Ms. Nhi on one side and 600 households of 5 hamlets on the other, leading to a lack of determination in temporarily stopping the burial of the dead at Do Luong cemetery.

It was not until the Tan Ky District People's Committee criticized the Tan An Commune People's Committee and decided to permanently stop the burial of the dead at the Do Luong Hamlet Cemetery, and requested Tan An Commune to be more determined in handling the matter, that the burial of the dead here was basically stopped. At the same time, the District People's Committee also assigned Tan An Commune to study and expand the area of ​​the old cemeteries in Tan Son Hamlet to serve the needs of the people.

Another solution is also considered to avoid waste, which is to only use sand burial in Do Luong Hamlet cemetery. Because the regulation stipulates the distance between the sand burial cemetery and residential areas is at least 100m. With these solutions, Tan An Commune People's Committee hopes to end the 5-year-long lawsuit, bringing stability and consensus for development.