"A plea" on the summit of Bat Dai Son

BHG - Looking up, you see the sky; looking down, you see rocks; in front of you are mountains; your back is against the mountains... That's the living condition of 175 households in three highland villages: Pải Chư Phìn, Xà Phìn, and Thào Chư Phìn in Bát Đại Sơn commune (Quản Bạ district). For generations, the people here have always longed for essential infrastructure such as electricity, telecommunications, and clean water supply from the government, a hope that still resonates amidst the vast rocky mountains.

BHG - Looking up, you see the sky; looking down, you see rocks; in front of you are mountains; your back is against the mountains... That's the living condition of 175 households in three highland villages: Pải Chư Phìn, Xà Phìn, and Thào Chư Phìn in Bát Đại Sơn commune (Quản Bạ district). For generations, the people here have always longed for essential infrastructure such as electricity, telecommunications, and clean water supply from the government, a hope that still resonates amidst the vast rocky mountains.

83 households live without electricity, mobile phone signal, or water.

At 10:30 a.m., when the sun was almost at its zenith, Mrs. Vu Thi Bia of Pai Chu Phin village still had to use a flashlight for her daily activities because only a few weak rays of light filtered through the wooden walls inside her house, and the village still lacked access to the national power grid. “Four generations live together in my house. Except for outdoor activities, all indoor activities, day or night, rely on oil lamps or flashlights,” Mrs. Bia shared.

Mr. Hau Mi Vang, from Pai Chu Phin village, uses rainwater for his daily needs.

Pai Chu Phin is one of three highland villages in Bat Dai Son commune, located about 5 km from the commune center. It has 83 households and 463 inhabitants, all of whom are Mong ethnic people. This is the most disadvantaged village in the commune, where residents still live without electricity, telecommunications coverage, or access to clean water. To have electricity at night, more affluent households purchase solar panels, while others rely on oil lamps or flashlights, which have very short lifespans.

Without mobile phone coverage, people have to go to another village or to the commune center to make a phone call. Their water supply is entirely dependent on natural sources, so during the dry season, they always face water shortages.

Having directly experienced the hardships of the people in Pải Chư Phìn, we are truly impressed by their efforts to overcome adversity. Currently, 100% of households in the village are classified as multidimensionally poor, with approximately 90% being poor or near-poor in terms of income; only 7 out of 83 households in the village have built sturdy houses meeting the "three solid" criteria (solid foundation, solid frame/walls, solid roof); about 40% of households have purchased solar panels for lighting; 100% of families have mobile phones, but they are only used for checking the time and as flashlights, unusable for making or receiving calls within the village; during the dry season, 100% of households have to use water from pits dug throughout the corn fields hundreds of years ago, even though the water quality is not hygienically safe.

The Party Secretary of Hau Mi Sung village shared: The biggest wish of the 83 households in the village is for the government to soon invest in extending the national power grid to every family, build a "hanging reservoir" to store water to meet the needs of clean and safe domestic water use during the dry season, and install telecommunication broadcasting stations for the people.

175 households live in areas with poor mobile phone signal coverage.

Bat Dai Son is a border commune in Quan Ba ​​district, located 28 km from the district center. It comprises 9 villages, 714 households, and 3,792 inhabitants, 80% of whom are ethnic Mong people. As of the end of 2024, the commune's poverty rate reached 64.43%, among the highest in the district. Currently, three highland villages in the commune – Pai Chu Phin, Xa Phin, and Thao Chu Phin – with 175 households and 989 inhabitants, still lack telecommunication base stations. The absence of mobile phone coverage makes leadership, guidance, and management by the commune's Party committee and government very difficult; living in a "mobile phone coverage dead zone," the people suffer many disadvantages and hardships in their daily lives, access to information, and the inability to access essential public services on current digital platforms…

Without electricity, Mrs. Vu Thi Bia's family has to mill corn using a generator.

According to Nguyen Xuan Toan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Bat Dai Son commune: 100% of the three villages in the commune are Mong ethnic people, accounting for 26% of the total population. The villagers typically live scattered in small hamlets, not concentrated in one area; some households reside in the core of the special-use forest. Therefore, due to the lack of telecommunications networks, when directing, managing, or handling urgent issues at the commune level, officials have to be sent down to the villages to establish contact. Similarly, when villages need to report something, they have to go directly to the commune center. Some villages are nearly 20 km from the commune center, and difficult transportation makes travel very time-consuming. We earnestly hope that telecommunications companies will soon invest in base stations for these villages.

Six months of the dry season bring a shortage of water for daily use.

Bat Dai Son is located at an altitude of approximately 1,100-1,300 meters above sea level. The main source of surface water for daily life and production comes from the Mien River, streams, and creeks in the area. However, these sources only meet the needs of the people in the lower-lying villages and are seasonal. During the six dry months (November to April), water is very scarce, and most people in the commune have to rely on rainwater for their daily needs, especially in the three high-altitude villages that depend entirely on rainwater. Each family only has water tanks (or stainless steel tanks) with a capacity of 2-3 cubic meters, which is insufficient for the entire season. This situation has been reported to provincial and district authorities, but remains unresolved, becoming a major concern for the local Party committee and government.

Village head Thào Chư Phìn Hầu Mí Sùng expressed: "During the dry season, there are months with not a single drop of rain, and households only dare to use water for drinking and cooking. Due to water shortages, many households resort to using unsanitary water from water reservoirs in corn fields or from neighboring villages, or even travel to the commune center, more than 10 km away, to beg for or buy water. The people suffer greatly from the lack of water for daily use. We only hope that the province will soon support investment in 'hanging reservoirs' for the people to store water and have enough water for use during the dry season."

Over the years, thanks to the attention of the province and district, some infrastructure such as electricity, roads, schools, and classrooms in Bat Dai Son commune have gradually received attention from all levels and sectors; capital from 3 national target programs has been invested effectively with projects supporting livelihoods, supporting water storage tanks, etc. However, for the 3 highland villages, the most difficult challenges in the commune are the lack of national grid infrastructure, clean water, and especially telecommunications networks, which urgently need investment. "Hopefully, the requests of the people on the top of Bat Dai Son will soon become a reality," said Chairman of the People's Committee of Bat Dai Son commune, Nguyen Xuan Toan, with concern.

Text and photos: Duy Tuan

Source: https://baohagiang.vn/xa-hoi/202506/loi-thinh-cau-tren-dinh-bat-dai-son-3f46aea/