Recently, Lao Dong Newspaper has published many articles about the coal mining situation of Viet Sinh Mineral Exploitation Joint Stock Company (Viet Sinh Company) in Khanh Hoa commune, Lao Cai province, causing environmental pollution, damaged roads, and buried rice fields.
After posting, people living near the mine continued to provide more photos and clips about the difficult situation and urgently hoped that the authorities would take action to thoroughly handle it.
On August 25, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Hoang Van Dinh - Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Commune People's Committee said that after Lao Dong Newspaper published the information, the unit had a working session with the enterprise to verify the people's reflections.
According to the leader of Khanh Hoa commune, basically, the people's reflections are well-founded. However, recently, the business has started to overcome the problem, such as rebuilding nearly 1km of road and culvert over the stream.
Some sections from the beginning of the national highway or some branch roads, localities have also had plans to repair and develop plans, however, due to the merger of two-level authorities, it cannot be implemented.
"Currently, there are only a few agreements on land disputes, compensation and support prices between the company and some households, leading to prolonged complaints," said Mr. Dinh.
Regarding the existing problems of enterprises, the leader of Khanh Hoa commune added that the granting of mining licenses is related to the departments, branches of the province and the Central Government. The locality does not have enough authority, human resources, machinery, and documents to determine whether the enterprise is exploiting at the right mine location or not, and whether the waste is dumped in accordance with regulations.
"The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lao Cai province has established an inspection team to work with Viet Sinh company to clarify issues related to dumping and exploitation at Hong Quang coal mine in the next few days. If the enterprise is found to be wrong, there will be enough basis to punish it according to regulations," Mr. Dinh informed.
The Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Commune People's Committee also informed that after the press reported that the exploitation and transportation activities of the enterprise had complied with regulations more than before, the police came to work and requested the transportation enterprise to ensure compliance with regulations and sign a commitment on load.
According to the reporter's records, some locations of the road and culverts behind the reflection have been repaired by the enterprise. Some landslides have been cleared, the site clearance and gathering area have been more neat, no longer having the scene of roads washed away with ore wastewater as before.
However, at the site, many unqualified vehicles are still gathering and circulating in the mine area that is not safe. The time the reporter recorded the truck with license plates 14C-007.81, 14C-407.36, 34C-277.51, 14C-405.83... on the inspection stamp displaying the expiration date in 2023 and 2024.
The exploitation area does not have ropes, there are no safety measures, the lake area formed by exploitation has signs but lacks safety measures, endangering people and vehicles...
According to the reflection of people in Khanh Hoa commune, Lao Cai province, since the coal mine of Viet Sinh Company expanded in scale, many hills have been leveled, causing landslides on the family's land. Some hills and fields were dug up while the dispute was ongoing, and compensation has not been paid to the people.
In particular, coal and coal dust during blasting, exploitation and transportation flows into the fields, causing the soil to be tightly compacted and cannot be planted.
