Profiteering of site clearance of expressway projects needs strict handling

The Head of the National Assembly Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee asked the Government and the Prime Minister to pay attention and direct the People's Committees of provinces and cities to strictly handle cases of profiteering through land recovery, compensation, and resettlement, especially the localities where the Eastern North-South Expressway Project in the 2021-2025 period is being carried out.
Profiteering of site clearance of expressway projects needs strict handling ảnh 1 Mr. Duong Thanh Binh, Head of the NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee. (Photo: SGGP)
A report on the receipt, settlement and response to voters' petitions and the results of receiving citizens, handling petitions, and supervising the settlement of complaints and reports sent to the National Assembly by citizens in March 2022 was presented by Mr. Duong Thanh Binh, Head of the NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the NA in the late morning of April 21.

Concerns over unusual floods

According to the report, voters and people are especially concerned and worried about the prolonged unseasonal rains and floods that have occurred in the Central and Central Highlands provinces recently, causing tens of thousands of hectares of rice land and crops to be inundated, many boats, fishing tools, and inshore floating cages to be sunk, swept away, and buried. These extreme weather developments have caused heavy damage to people and properties.

Besides, the situation of production and trading of counterfeit goods and low-quality goods, and the prices of some essential consumer goods, animal feeds, fertilizers, and pesticides have increased, affecting production and people's lives; One-time social insurance withdrawals continue to increase, affecting the goals, efforts, and determination of the Party and the State in ensuring social security for the entire people.

At the same time, voters and people also reported on the situation that some households built houses and planted trees densely on the area of land that is being carried out site clearance to implement projects takes place in many localities, including the Eastern North-South Expressway project in the 2021-2025 period.

As for the situation of large-scale deforestation and leveling to arbitrarily change the land-use purpose of forest land into residential land, land for production, business, and services in some localities, especially the Central Highlands provinces, voters and people have also asked the Government to strictly handle them.

The Ministry of Health yet to respond to 121 petitions from voters

The NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee had received and forwarded a total of 2,848 petitions from voters to the competent authorities for settlement, said Mr. Duong Thanh Binh.

The NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee found that most of the agencies had strived, actively resolved, and fully responded to the petitions sent by voters. Up to now, 2,726 petitions have been resolved and answered. However, there are still 122 unresolved and unanswered petitions. Of which, the Ministry of Health has unresolved 121 petitions, and the Government Office has one. The committee will continue to urge and update the settlement results and respond to voters' petitions from competent agencies to summarize and report to the Standing Committee of the NA at the 11th session and the National Assembly at the third meeting.

Complaints and reports remain hot

According to the reports of authorities, in the month, the number of citizens' complaints, reports, petitions, and feedback increased higher than in the same period as the assessment of the Standing Committee of the NA in the previous meeting. Noticeably, in Hanoi, some individuals and large groups of people have flocked to the Central Government to complain and denounce.

According to the Head of the NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee, although the monitoring of the settlement of complaints and reports has been enhanced, the work of collecting opinions and petitions of voters and the people has not been carried out regularly. There have not been many innovations in the work of collecting opinions and petitions of voters and the people. Instead, it was carried out mainly through periodic meetings before and after each meeting of the NA.

The quality and effectiveness of citizen reception and handling of complaints and reports of some agencies are not commensurate with the functions and tasks of elected bodies and elected representatives.

The Head of the NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee suggested that the NA delegations continue to complete the report on the monitoring results on the implementation of the law on citizen reception and settlement of complaints and denunciations from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2021, promptly send to the Standing Supervisory Delegation to summarize and submit to the Standing Committee of the NA as planned.

Along with that, he asked the Government and the Prime Minister to pay attention and direct the People's Committees of provinces and cities to strictly handle cases of profiteering through land recovery, compensation, and resettlement, especially in the localities where the Eastern North-South Expressway Project in the 2021-2025 period is being carried out.

The study and improvement of policies and laws on social insurance; solutions to create jobs and increase incomes for laborers to limit the one-time withdrawals of social insurance; solutions to rectify and strictly handle organizations and individuals that manipulate and corner the stock market, corporate bond market, and real estate market are also on the list of issues that need to be addressed drastically, according to the Head of the NA Standing Committee's Ombudsman Committee.

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