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The Phu My town government (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) is planning to enforce the demolition of a series of illegal constructions at Phat Quang pagoda, where Mr. Thich Chan Quang (Vuong Tan Viet) is the abbot.
On August 28, a representative of the People's Committee of Phu My town said that they are coordinating with relevant agencies to develop a plan to enforce the demolition and restoration of the original status of the illegal constructions at Phat Quang pagoda.
This pagoda is located in the protective forest of Dinh mountain, previously called "Thien Ton Phat Quang", with Mr. Thich Chan Quang (real name is Vuong Tan Viet) as abbot.
A representative of the People's Committee of Phu My town said that in March and April, the locality issued a decision to enforce the decision and established a team to carry out this task.
The violation of Phat Quang Pagoda was determined to be occupying protective forest land in a rural area with an area of over 1,418 square meters, belonging to Tan Hoa Sub-area, Dinh Mountain Protective Forest, Phuoc Thanh Village, Tan Hoa Commune (Phu My Town) to build illegal constructions including: concrete roads, toilets, and warehouses.
Explaining why the inspection conclusion had pointed out the above violations at Phat Quang Pagoda since 2018, but the local government had only now come up with a plan for enforcement, a representative of the People's Committee of Phu My town informed that upon receiving the conclusion notice, the Standing Committee of Phu My Town Party Committee had issued a document directing the People's Committee of the town to handle the above works and the responsibilities of related individuals.
After that, the Town People's Committee issued a decision to discipline 8 individuals and 2 related organizations. Regarding the illegal construction works at Phat Quang Pagoda, it was explained that due to the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and during the process of issuing enforcement decisions, Mr. Vuong Tan Viet filed a complaint against the above decisions.
“Currently, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu My town has assigned an inspector to verify the contents of the complaint of Mr. Vuong Tan Viet, abbot of Phat Quang pagoda. At the same time, the relevant departments have been assigned to promptly complete the enforcement plan according to the principle of strictly handling violations,” informed a representative of the People's Committee of Phu My town.
According to the investigation, the above violations at Phat Quang Pagoda were mentioned by the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province in the announcement of the conclusion of the inspection of compliance with the provisions of the law on land and construction at Phat Quang Pagoda in July 2018.
Specifically, the entire area of Phat Quang Pagoda that is being used and has been granted a land use right certificate has been continuously managed by the State since 1978, and is currently part of the protective forest land managed by the Protective Forest Management Board of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.
Regarding construction, Phat Quang Pagoda built a total of 36 projects, but only 1 project was licensed by the Department of Construction, which was the main hall, but the licensing by the Department of Construction was determined to be incorrect.
The remaining 35 projects were not licensed by competent State agencies, including many large and solid projects such as asphalt roads (area of about 3,500m2).
According to the inspection conclusion notice, during the construction of works on the land by Phat Quang Pagoda, the authorities drew up 33 violation records, issued 11 decisions on administrative sanctions and decisions to suspend construction, decisions to apply remedial measures, and requests to restore the original status, but the pagoda's representatives did not comply and continued construction.
From the above serious violations, the Provincial People's Committee directed the competent authorities to dismantle them to ensure the strictness of the law in handling illegal construction of religious establishments in the area.
At the same time, the province also requested to handle the responsibilities of units and individuals at the Department of Construction, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, People's Committee of Phu My town, Provincial Protective Forest Management Board, Forestry Sub-Department, Forestry Department of Phu My town, People's Committees of Tan Hoa and Tan Hai communes.
However, up to now, illegal constructions still exist as above and are being enforced by local authorities.
VN (according to Vietnamnet)
