Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee decided to provide rice for people in provinces that were suffering from hunger during Tet 2010. However, up until this time, a large percentage of those people still have not received their share, meanwhile, the rice continues to be kept in storage areas.
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| Mr. Le Van Ban is immobile and the whole family depends on the government’s help. |
Decision No. 463/QD-UBND was issued by Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee on February 2, 2010 to help poor and sick people within the province during Tet.
As stated in this decision, it was to be an urgent matter that the rice be provided for those people who needed it and not to be used for any other purposes. If misused, the local leaders would have to take full responsibility before the law.
However, in reality, according to the complaints made by the people of Hamlet Five (Quang Phu Commune, Tho Xuan District), many were still suffering from hunger and did not receive any rice during the Tet holidays, despite the fact that 600kg of rice was provided for the commune just a few days before Tet.
There are about 100 households and 600 people in Quang Phu Commune, with 40 considered to be in extreme need and who qualify to be allowed to bring home 15kg each. The total amount of rice provided was 600kg but at this point in time, this load of rice is still sitting inside of a storage house.
Ms. Do Thi Hoai, from Hamlet Five , Quang Phu Commune, complained, “My family has four members but we were told we would only get two portions of rice. Tet has passed and until now, we still haven’t received anything.”
In the case of Mr. Le Van Ban, supporting a family of seven, one of whom suffers from a mental illness, and Mr. Ban himself, who has broken one of his legs and become immobile for about a month now, his family is one of many poor families in the area in need of the help. They looked forward to receiving rice from the local government but nothing has been done about this yet.
Many other families are reportedly facing the same problems as Ms. Hoai and Mr. Ban. They heard the local government would only distribute rice per household but not per head. That is already upsetting, but what is even more upsetting, is they still have not seen one single grain of rice as they were promised.
Instead of carrying out the decision, local authorities from Quang Phu Commune have decided to keep the rice in the storage area and wait for further guidelines from the upper leaders, ignoring the hunger problem of the people.
Mr. Bui Van Hai, Head of the hamlet, said they have just provided 30kg of rice for a family of two elderly, but the remaining amount 600kg of rice is still being kept at the hamlet’s storage house.
Mr. Le Van Loc, Chairman of Quang Phu Commune People’s Committee said, “We have already reported this matter to the District's Office of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs the day before Tet, however, we were unable to resolve the problem between the authorities and the local people due to a disagreement on the distribution the rice.”
Mr. Hoang Loc Ninh, Vice Chairman of Tho Xuan District People’s Committee, shared with DTiNews, “We have not received any report or complaint from the local authorities. Quang Phu Commune had previously accepted 3 tonnes of rice, according to its request, in order to help its people before Tet.”
“This method of distributing rice per household which was discussed by the commune’s local authorities is unacceptable. We will investigate this matter as quickly as possible and find an appropriate solution,” Mr. Ninh assured.
