Farmers in central Ha Tinh Province have threatened to sue a hydro-electricity station if it does not compensate them for their losses from floods that began in early October.
Huong Lien Commune People\'s Committee chairman Nguyen Tien Lanh blames a seized gate at the hydro-electricty station\'s reservoir for the continuing catastrophe.
"The plant failed to discharge water from its reservoir which overflowed and submerged people\'s houses," he said.
The flood that followed swept away a man; inundated 150 houses and buried 12ha of rice paddy.
Total losses were estimated at about VND8 billion (about US$400,000).
The people\'s committee had agreed with the villagers to sue the Ho Ho hydro-electricity said if it did not agree to pay compensation, said the People\'s Committee chairman Lanh.
The decision to seek compensation was reasonable because the hydro-electricity station\'s managers had been warned that the water in the reservoir was rising too high.
Farmer Nguyen Van Sinh in Huong Khe District\'s Huong Lien Commune said the Ho Ho hydro-electricity station "must compensate us otherwise we will sue it to protect our interest."
"We are in danger of dying of hunger because all our paddy fields are under water," said fellow farmer Dau Hong Ky.
His house was submerged under two metres of water and all rice and subsidiary crops had been destroyed, he said.
"I don\'t know what we will do."
Agriculture is the mainstay of the commune with its 580 households and 2,500 residents.
Lawyer Nguyen Khac Tuan agreed that the villagers have both the right and evidence to sue for compensation.
Response
The major investor in the Ho Ho hydro-electricity station, Doan Vu, said he had agreed to compensate the people of Huong Lien commune in phone talk with chairman Lanh.
But the people\'s committee chairman rejected the offer.
"I did not agree with the offer of VND448 million ($24,000)," he said. "I told Doan Van Vu that we must sit together to work out everything after he told me that he would send the money to my private bank account."
The offer was unreasonable as it would cost more than VND448 million to compensate for the destroyed 12ha of agricultural land.
The commune would also ask the hydro-electricity station to pay the VND2 billion ($100,000) that it was owed for the loss of land to the reservoir.
