People in need weren't provided rice while people who did not really need rice were during Tet. That is what happened to people in Thanh Xuan Commune, Thanh Chuong District, Nghe An Province.
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| Hoa's family, one of the many poor families in the commune, received only 4kg of rice. |
In a low bamboo-roofed house at the size of 20 square metres with no electricity and no running water, the whole family depends on their tiny paddy field to earn some money. Bui Thi Hoa, 37 years old, from Xuan Dien Hamlet, Thanh Xuan Commune, Thanh Chuong District, said she is a single mother of 3 small children. As confirmed by local authorities, her family is one of the poorest families in the commune, but Hoa only received 4kg of rice for her family over Tet.
The same thing happened to the family of two elderly people, Chu Thi Lieu, 67, and Bui Van Quyen, 66, in Xuan Dong Hamlet. Lieu suffers from poliomyelitis and has been unable to move around for a long time, and Quyen, affected by the war, is unable to do any hard work beside tending buffaloes for people. Lieu told DTiNews they only received 4kg of hunger relief rice and VND 100,000 (5.3 USD).
On the other hand, families who were not as poor, received the same benefits. Nguyen Canh Hao, from Xuan Dien District shared, "My family is not considered a poor family, but we were distributed rice by the local authorities during Tet. So were many other families like mine." Nguyen Van Sinh, from Xuan Dong Hamlet also spoke about how every household in the hamlet received rice during Tet, and even his family, a household of 5, not considered a needy family, also received 5kg of rice.
In a talk with Nguyen Canh Thuc (head of the Xuan Dien Hamlet, Thanh Xuan Commune), Thuc said, "The complaints are unfounded. We did not distribute rice to every family in the hamlet. There are only 28 poor households which makes up a total number of 150 people, and rice was distributed properly following the upper authority's guidelines that allowed for each household to receive 4kg of rice, not 1kg per person."
However, Nguyen Xuan Ngan, Deputy Head of the Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Department confirmed that 29 not-in-need households were crossed off of the list, including the family of Thanh Xuan Commune's head. "There is no guideline that said rice must be distributed to every family in Thanh Xuan Commune. We will investigate to find out what really happened as soon as possible," said Ngan.
