According to the reflection of people in Thanh An commune, Dien Bien province, some people are using equipment to level soil and rocks to fill the stele of Hong Com subdivision relic site. This is a component relic site of the Dien Bien Phu battlefield National Historical Site.
On the afternoon of July 10, a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper was present at the scene and recorded the incident. Accordingly, a large part of the rice fields in the relic protection area were buried. Many volumes of rock and soil have been leveled into the relic stele, even a wall has been built connecting to the foot of the stele's protective wall.
A local resident said: "Around this stele are two-crop rice fields. However, in recent years, some households coming to buy land in neighboring areas have gradually filled their rice fields. Up to now, they have filled the stele of the relic site".
On the same afternoon, working with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper at the headquarters, Mr. Tran Van Hai - Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee said that the commune's apparatus had only been in operation for 10 days, so there were some incidents in the area that the officials had not yet grasped.
"We will direct the staff to conduct an immediate inspection to verify the content provided by the reporter and strictly handle violations - if any" - Mr. Hai said.
Talking over the phone with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dao - Director of the Dien Bien Provincial Monument Management Board - confirmed that Hong Com Sub-area is a component relic of the Dien Bien Phu battlefield National Special Historical Site. At the same time, Mr. Dao also affirmed that he currently does not have the information, so he will send the staff to check immediately.
Late in the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dao discussed with reporters and confirmed that there was an attack on the relic as reported by the reporter. Accordingly, this relic area has a protected area of 2,000m2, after verification the filled area is more than 2m wide and about 20m long.
"We have worked with people who are leveling and damaging relics. They are committed to excavating the land and restoring the relic to its original state on July 11" - Mr. Dao added.
Hong Com subdivision is also known as the Southern subdivision of the Dien Bien Phu battlefield National Historical Site. This is one of three subdivisions of Dien Bien Phu Headquarters of the Group.
This subdivision is about 5 km from the Central subdivision in Muong Thanh. The name Hong Com originates from the Thai ethnic language as Hoong cum. The French army named this subdivision Isabelle - the name of a beautiful girl from France.
Currently, more than 40 relics at Dien Bien Phu battlefield have been recognized as a National Historical Site, especially associated with the victory of Dien Bien Phu "famous for five continents, shaking the world".
Dien Bien Phu battlefield is also one of the 10 especially important national relics ranked first in the country. This is an important resource for tourism development in Dien Bien province and creates a typical tourism product of the history and culture of the Northwest region in particular and the whole country in general.
