PM urges faster handling of complaints
HA NOI — More than 500 complaints and denunciations had remained unsolved for years, the Government Inspectorate reported in an online national conference yesterday.
However, 1,050 prolonged cases nationwide were wrapped up during the period 2008-11, showed the agency's statistics.
Addressing the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called for improvements in complaint and denunciation procedures to help maintain political and social stability and development.
"Land programming and clearance resettlement or compensation, relating to infrastructure, transport and urban development, must be handled efficiently with the aim of preventing new complaints and stabilising the country's development," Dung said.
He asked provinces and cities to review their procedures and the reasons for the drawn-out processes.
The agency said that circumstances of the cases yet to be settled were complicated and pressing in many provinces and cities. The situation had been caused by weak local governments in some areas, leading to many citizens taking their complaints to higher levels.
Complaints and denunciation cases relating to land problems made up more than 70 per cent of total cases, the agency said.
Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Chu Pham Ngoc Hien said that the number of complicated cases involving many people had increased, especially in areas with land withdrawal projects like Van Giang Trading Urban Area in Hung Yen Province; Long Giang Industrial Park in Tien Giang Province and Duong Noi Ward in Ha Dong District, Ha Noi.
Government Inspector General Huynh Phong Tranh said that favourable conditions should be given to dealing with citizen's complaints and denunciations so that at least 85 per cent of new cases were solved.
Measures would be focused on strengthening land management and enhancing the capacity of Government units relating to receiving and handling cases, he said.
Improved co-operation between central and local levels in solving cases, law dissemination and educating people on the issue were also needed, Tranh added.
State administrative units interviewed more than 1.5 million people and handled nearly 673,000 documents between 2008 and 2011.
During the period, authorities resolved more than 257,000 of 290,000 complaints and over 33,000 of 39,100 denunciations. Nearly VND1 trillion (US$48 million) and more than 1,200ha of land have been resumed by the State, and some 6,700 people had their rights and interests restored. — VNS