Illegal construction on farm land, agricultural land

(Baonghean) - It can be said that converting land accumulation and exploiting the potential for farm economic development is a correct policy, contributing to improving and enhancing people's lives. However, a painful reality is happening in many localities, which is that many farm owners and households renting agricultural land have taken advantage of the situation to illegally build houses and solid structures on farms and agricultural land, but are almost not handled by the authorities.

Solid houses built on aquaculture land in Hung Loi (Hung Nguyen).

Bringing the house to the field

Following the dike, we went to the Da Bac field, Quynh Ba commune, Quynh Luu, and saw several "grand" aquaculture farms. It is worth mentioning that on the land area of ​​these farms, houses and solidly built structures have sprung up. Visiting Ms. Vu Thi Thuy's farm, next to the large pond area, above the shore, in addition to the duck farm system, there is also a spacious level 4 house. In 2009, implementing the commune's land accumulation conversion program, with 6 sao of rice fields being concentrated "in one place", Ms. Thuy spent 6 million VND to buy 1 sao of rice fields from another family to expand the scale. She admitted: "My family has invested over 300 million VND to build infrastructure, we know that building a solid house is against the regulations, but we really need a place to "settle down" to facilitate the development of the farm".

In recent years, along the south of Cau Hao (Quynh Ba), there has been a situation of collecting and "buying" agricultural land from people to build solid structures for business. Typically, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong's household has brazenly built a restaurant of more than 3,000 square meters on agricultural land, in the area south of Cau Hao. Currently, the restaurant is in the process of completion, the remaining area is concreted for a yard. Some local people are upset: According to regulations, agricultural land cannot be used to build solid structures, but Mr. Cuong built on a large scale but the Commune People's Committee did not take any measures to handle it. When asked about this issue, Mr. Cuong explained: "I collected and "bought" this agricultural land from people according to the agreement to build a restaurant for business." Perhaps knowing that this was wrong, when we went to take pictures of the restaurant "growing" on Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong's rice field, some people obstructed us.

In addition to Quynh Bang, there are still many places in Quynh Luu where people deliberately build illegal houses on agricultural land. For example, Mr. Nguyen Si Luan's household in Quynh Thach has over 2 hectares of agricultural land. In addition to the fish pond area, he also built a solid house, equipped with full amenities such as a TV, refrigerator, and even installed an air conditioner. Not to mention the auxiliary works such as a dry tank of over 20m3, toilets... Going along the 42nd dike in Hung Loi commune, Hung Nguyen, we saw many high-rise buildings springing up right in the aquaculture areas. According to regulations, on the land area where households have contracts for aquaculture, they are only allowed to build "watchtowers" from 17 - 18 m2 wide.

However, 100% of the households renting aquaculture ponds here have expanded their areas, turning their "watchtowers" into solid houses. For example, the fish farming area of ​​Ms. Tran Thi Tung in Hamlet 6, Hung Loi Commune is over 5,000m2 wide, of which she uses over 300m2 to build a solid house and other ancillary works to serve the whole family. Ms. Tung simply explained: According to the contract to rent the aquaculture pond area (from 1999 to 2015) for a very long time, we built a solid house to live in. In 2015, when the contract expired, we requested an extension... Along the embankment 42, Hung Loi Commune, there are over 20 households illegally building solid houses on aquaculture land. We continued to the aquaculture farm of Mr. Dinh Xuan Hoan in Hamlet 12, Xuan Hoa Commune (Nam Dan). This land was previously a brick kiln. In 2005, after the brick kiln stopped operating, Mr. Hoan's family rented this area from the commune to raise fish. The total area is over 15,000m2, at a price of 9 million VND/year. However, Mr. Hoan only raised fish on 7,000m2, and the rest was renovated to make pig and chicken pens and a solid house for the whole family to live in. The whole Nam Dan district currently has 79 large and small farms, most of which illegally built solid structures on farm land.

In Yen Thanh district, the situation of building permanent houses on farm land is now at an alarming level. According to statistics, the whole district has 75 cases of illegal construction of houses on rented land for farms and ranches, of which 14 cases have built permanent houses and 61 cases have built temporary houses. For example, the household of Mr. Tran Dinh Thuoi - Tay Tien hamlet, Tien Thanh commune, his farm mainly grows trees and raises buffalo and cows, but in fact, he has built a permanent house for many years. Mr. Thuoi explained: I have rented land to build a farm here for decades. Before, I only built temporary houses, but now I have the conditions to build a permanent house to live in and take care of the farm. In Ly Thanh commune, there are 5 cases of illegal construction of permanent houses on farm land. For example, Mr. Hoang Giang's household in hamlet 3 has a farm area of ​​0.6 hectares, mainly growing forestry trees and raising livestock. Mr. Giang built a 2-room house and has lived there since 2003. Mr. Tran Lien's household in hamlet 7 has a land area of ​​0.6 hectares, mainly forestry land, and has built a solid 3-room house...

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong's household in Quynh Ba (Quynh Luu) "bought" agricultural land from people to illegally build a restaurant.

Unforeseen consequences

The rampant illegal construction of houses and solid structures on farmland and agricultural land has caused significant harm and consequences. For example, in section 42 of the dike in Hung Loi commune - Hung Nguyen, we found that most of them violated the traffic safety corridor and the dike corridor. Many people living below the dike have arbitrarily opened the dike corridors to build gates to their houses, using the dike surface as a yard to dry straw and stubble, obstructing traffic. During the rainy and flood season, due to the construction of solid structures and planting large trees around the fence, the flow is obstructed. What is especially dangerous is that due to living below the dike, during the flood season, the water rises, threatening the lives of many people. This area is also at risk of disrupting the general planning of the urban area near Vinh City and "chopping up" upcoming projects because after the expiration of the aquaculture lease term, from 1999 to 2015, the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district will allow investors to implement investment projects in this land.

In the area south of Cau Hao, Quynh Ba, Quynh Luu communes, many households buy agricultural land from local people to live and do business. In addition to violating the river dike regulations, they also cause serious pollution, as many households litter the Binh Son River and along the dike, etc. Many farms build solid structures that also affect and hinder the planning process of new rural construction in localities. In some localities, if not resolutely handled and resolved, spontaneous residential areas will easily form and grow, such as some farms in the mountains far from residential areas, where farm owners divide land for family members to build solid houses.

A leader of the Land Management Department, Department of Natural Resources and Environment said: Using farmland and agricultural land for the wrong purpose seriously affects social investment. In the process of the State needing to reclaim land, ponds and lakes can be filled in, but houses and solid structures illegally built by people must be demolished, which will be very complicated. Obviously, in addition to lax management at the commune level, some district levels have not paid attention, and also lack awareness and responsibility.

It can be said that recently, in our province, the situation of illegal construction of houses and other works on farm land and agricultural land in violation of the Land Law has been increasing, with increasingly serious levels. The objective cause of the above violations is that some households do not fully understand the legal procedures for farm construction, so they have arbitrarily changed the land use purpose and built permanent houses on public land. Not to mention, many households in the process of building temporary houses have deliberately taken advantage of illegal construction of permanent houses. In addition, it must be frankly acknowledged that in many localities, land management has not received due attention, especially at the commune level, with very little propaganda to make tenants understand that they are not allowed to build permanent houses. For a long time, almost all communes did not report on the situation of building permanent houses on farm land and agricultural land to the District People's Committee, did not handle it right from the beginning, or did not handle it resolutely. Meanwhile, the inspection work of the district to the commune level on land management is lax, many illegal constructions continue but are still not prevented or handled. Therefore, synchronous and drastic solutions are needed to rectify this situation.

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Article and photos:Van Truong