HÀ NỘI – Hà Nội City People’s Committee reported there were numerous violations of dyke management last year that were not dealt with strictly or punished, but that good progress has been made.

Violations that have not been adequately dealt with are mostly in the districts of Ứng Hòa, Ba Vì, Thường Tín, Phú Xuyên, Gia Lâm, Quốc Oai and Tây Hồ.

The deputy chairman of the City People’s Committee, Trần Xuân Việt, has recently signed an official document that requires all relevant departments and district- and township-level authorities to focus on tackling violations of dyke management.

According to the document, the departments of agricultural and rural development, natural resources and the environment, transport, police, and district-level authorities must all co-ordinate with each other to implement punishment and clearance.

District and township-level people’s committees have been asked to definitively tackle outstanding violations, and to frequently patrol the dyke system.

In addition, to ensure continued dyke management and the effective punishment of violations, the City People’s Committee has entrusted the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development with supervising the violation notification and punishment.

According to the department, the main dyke-related violations are the illegal building of residential houses, makeshift camps, construction material yards, the planting of trees on the dyke and overloaded lorries on the dyke road.

There was reportedly 204 new dyke-related violations in the first six months of last year.

Until last June, a total of 15,289 cases of dyke-related violations had been reported, but the city authorities had only punished 1,660 of these cases.

The majority of violations – 8,100 of them – occurred at the dyke system and irrigation constructions along the Nhuệ River, under the management of the Nhuệ River Irrigation Company.

Violations were mostly reported in the districts of South Từ Liêm, North Từ Liêm, Hà Đông, Thanh Trì, Phú Xuyên and Ứng Hòa.

There was s total of 4,000 outstanding cases in the Đáy River dyke system, according to director of the Đáy River Irrigation Company, Doãn Văn Kính. He said that when the company discovered a violation, they reported it to local authorities. However, the rate at which violations were punished remained low, he said. -- VNS