Recently, Nhan Dan Newspaper reporters have continuously received phone calls from people reporting illegal gold mining in Song Ma, Mai Son, Phu Yen, Thuan Chau districts..., most recently in Lua village, Pi Tong commune, Muong La district.
According to reports, gold mining in Lua village has been going on for many years. After a period of reporting by the press, gold mining here was temporarily stopped, then resumed.
Thus, when the press reports, the gold mining only stops for a while and then resumes. This is a warning bell about the responsibility of mineral management here.
Desolation for gold
To safely “infiltrate” the illegal gold mining area in Lua village, following the instructions of the locals, we left our car outside, rented a motorbike and pretended to be land buyers.
About 800m past the welcome gate of Lua village, we could hear the sound of excavators hitting the ground and rocks.
Ask any local on the way to the gold mine, they will all point up above, where illegal gold mining has been happening for years.
On the hills along the Toong stream going up the mountain of Lua village, there are images of devastated land with many large and small excavators present.
A villager (who asked to remain anonymous) said: Gold mining here operates day and night. When operating, there will be people at both ends guarding to control people coming in and out. The excavated soil and rocks are fed into the machine, the water flows down the stream, affecting the agricultural land and the daily life of the villagers.
According to the people's instructions, if they do enter, it should be around noon, when the households return from their fields, at that time the machines and people will also be off, so entry and exit will be less "controlled".
On the way in, in addition to recording the scene of areas that used to be fields and croplands being dug up and devastated, we also encountered large excavators or gold sieves lying in the middle of the dug-up areas.
A man about 60 years old just returned from the fields, when we asked, immediately pointed to the dug-up hills, and said: That place used to be fields below, with trees above, now it's all dug up. They bought the land at a high price, then used machines to dig day and night, no one dared to say anything because they heard that there was someone behind the scenes "guaranteeing" it.
A fairly clear fact is that along the Toong stream from the middle of the village to the top, Lua village is now like a “battlefield” that has just been bombed. The dug areas are like deep ponds, with steep walls and stagnant, yellow water.
From the beginning of the village to the end of the village, all were affected, and the people's cultivated land was no longer intact.
According to the locals' comparison: Unlike the clandestine manual gold mining of many years ago, gold miners are now equipped with large-scale mining machinery: crawler excavators, vibrating screens, gold detectors. They even built a row of shacks, a water pipeline system and guard posts at both ends of the village.
It is worth mentioning that Son La province once directed the installation of a surveillance camera system to manage and monitor mineral exploitation activities in Lua village. However, when approaching the camera system at the hottest spot, we discovered something unusual: The installed camera was facing directly at a dense bush.
It was not until the reporter directly assisted the commune officials in adjusting the camera position on the phone that the whole image of the mining area appeared clearly. The fact that the camera in the important position was "skewed" was not accidental, but clearly showed the intervention of human hands.
Working with comrade Vi Van Thanh, Party Secretary of the commune and Lo Van Phieu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Pi Tong commune, we received very reserved and hesitant answers.
During the work, these commune officials said they were afraid of retaliation, even the Party Secretary of the commune could not hold back his tears when talking to us.
A Pi Tong commune official frankly shared: Knowing that the mining was illegal, the commune had checked many times and reported to the district. But handling it was very difficult, because often afterwards, provincial officials called or sent people to the site to "intervene" and say that it was not allowed to be touched.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong La district, confirmed: The district has organized inspection teams many times, requesting to stop mining activities, but this situation still recurs, even on an increasingly large scale. The reason given is that "it is difficult to handle because there are many subjects from other provinces, with connections and power".
A district leader, when talking to reporters on the phone, frankly shared: To be honest, it is very difficult, because the subjects have many relationships, even officials in the province call with the content of "creating conditions" for them. That is also why both the Party Secretary and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Pi Tong commune submitted applications for early retirement due to "pressure"...!?
In 2024, a reporter from Nhan Dan Newspaper received many phone calls from a leader of Pi Tong commune asking for “help” and advice because he did not “cooperate” with the forces behind the gold miners. This official even confided that he only wanted to be transferred out of this “hot spot”!?
To bribe and avoid opposition from the commune leader, at that time, the subjects also used threatening words, presented their relationships and money to pressure and bribe. They even went to his house to “negotiate” but failed…!
What solution?
At a meeting with a reporter from Nhan Dan Newspaper, Mr. Dang Ngoc Hau, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Son La Province, frankly said: The province did not cover up, I personally went to inspect 3 times and requested the installation of a camera system. Currently, the units have been assigned to review and inspect. If any officials are found to be complicit or showing signs of covering up, they will be strictly handled according to the law.
According to the documents we have collected, the area of Ban Lua, Pi Tong commune was surveyed to have a large reserve of alluvial gold. However, no unit has been licensed to exploit it legally.
Allowing individuals to arbitrarily buy agricultural land, bring in machinery to destroy the land and openly mine gold like that is a serious violation of regulations on resource management.
The worrying thing is that the environmental consequences are extremely severe when agricultural land is destroyed, natural flows are silted up, and the risk of landslides during the rainy season is very high. People lose their livelihoods, and domestic water sources are also seriously affected.
The case of illegal gold mining in Lua village, Pi Tong commune, Muong La district clearly shows the responsibility of Party committees, authorities, departments and especially according to people's reflection, there are signs of complicity.
Many people and officials also shared that there was a cover-up from an organized interest group when using the "power" from relationships to "create conditions" for wrongdoings to occur. Because currently, the illegal gold mining situation in Lua village has only stopped at checking, reminding and reporting and then leaving it there.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong La district, added: The district has sent a document to the province requesting the authorities to intervene and requesting the province to assign the Department of Agriculture and Environment to soon advise on auctioning, allowing qualified organizations to exploit according to regulations, to avoid this situation lasting for many years, leading to loss of resources and loss of state budget revenue...
Faced with the situation of illegal gold mining that has lasted for many years, public opinion is wondering: Why have the authorities not promptly investigated and prosecuted the subjects organizing illegal mineral mining? Why has the Provincial Party Committee's Inspection Committee not been assigned to verify the reflections of officials and people about officials from this or that department being behind the scenes, calling to intervene?
Regarding violations in land management, why doesn’t the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Son La province step in to review and evaluate the entire affected area, to advise on strict handling of violations in land management, while this illegal mineral exploitation is not a needle or thread?
In terms of metal value, gold is indeed very precious, but a fairly clear fact is that gold cannot be more precious than the fields, clean water and peaceful life of the people here.
What is happening in Lua village, Pi Tong commune, Muong La district, Son La province is a wake-up call for mineral management in remote areas, places that are easily forgotten, but are hot spots for "taking advantage of loopholes for profit".
Once again, the bell about illegal gold mining in Son La continues to ring. Once again, many officials, party members and people hope that Son La province needs to conduct a general review of the whole province, eliminate the interest groups that "protect" gold thieves, and protect national resources before the next communes and villages become "battlefields" because of illegal gold mining.
Nhan Dan Newspaper will continue to report on this content.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/co-hay-khong-nhom-loi-ich-bao-ke-khai-thac-vang-trai-phep-o-son-la-post887424.html
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