VietNamNet Bridge – Local people in Binh Hoa Commune of Giao Thuy district in Nam Dinh province have got panicked after realizing that the local authorities decided to bury pesticide in the rice fields.

The project on burying pesticide in the fields is a hot topic of discussion of all people in the commune these days. The local authorities have reassured the public that the project has been going smoothly as it is initially designed. However, hundreds of local farmers have give up the rice fields because of the fear for soil pollution and risks for human health.

A lot of chemical barrels with no clear origin have been found buried amid the rice fields, which has put local people on the tenterhooks. They fear that the thousands cubic meters of chemicals would pollute the environment and damage their health once the chemicals leak out.

An official of the commune people’s committee said burying pesticide is a part of the project on settling the environment pollution caused by the plant protection chemicals left in Hoanh Son commune of Giao Thuy district.

The project was approved by the Nam Dinh provincial People’s Committee in the Decision No 1264 dated August 1, 2011.

However, the problem is that the solutions on treating the polluted soil in the locality shown in the document and the Decision No. 972 have not been followed.

The people in Hoa Binh commune said they cannot understand why the plant protection chemicals left in Hoanh Son commune needs to be buried in Hoa Binh commune.

“As far as I know, this is a project of Hoanh Son commune. However, I don’t understand why the district’s authorities have decided to implement the project here,” said Lai The Thong, a local resident, said.

According to Thong, tens of local households donated thousands of square meters of land for a domestic garbage dumping ground.

While the work was under the execution, the Binh Hoa commune’s authorities allowed a company to build a 3,000 square meter reinforce concrete tank next to the dumping ground.

Local residents were told that the tank would be used for the waste water treatment. However, in fact, it has become the tank of the toxic chemicals brought there from other localities.

Also according to Thong, the project has been implemented quietly, because no one knows about the project and the local authorities did not consult with the people about it. People just have discovered the tank of pesticide, when the burying nearly got completed.

Some people complained that they had itching after finishing the field works nearby, blaming on the toxicity underground which has reportedly flooded out.

Lai Van Thanh, a farmer, said he fears that the people here would lose their livelihood once the rice fields get polluted with the pesticide. Agriculture remains the main source of income for local people.

“We have to live in fear, but the local authorities turn a deaf ear to our difficulties,” he complained.

“We don’t want to see a new “cancer village” appear one day here,” he added.

Hundreds of hectares of fields near the place where chemicals are buried have been left uncultivated.

DS&PL