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 is the living condition of 175 households in 3 highland villages: Pai Chu Phin, Xa Phin and Thao Chu Phin in Bat Dai Son commune (Quan Ba). Through many generations, the desire of the people here for the state to invest in essential infrastructure such as electricity, telecommunications networks and domestic water supply works still echoes among the vast mountains and rocks.
83 households live without electricity, no mobile signal, and lack of water.
At 10:30 a.m., when the sun has risen near the top of the mountain, Ms. Vu Thi Bia, from Pai Chu Phin village, still has to use a flashlight for daily activities because only a few weak rays of light penetrate the wooden walls of her house, while the village does not have national grid electricity. "My family has 4 generations living together, except for outdoor activities, all activities inside the house, whether day or night, the whole family still has to rely on oil lamps or flashlights," Ms. Bia shared.
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| Mr. Hau Mi Vang, Pai Chu Phin village uses rainwater for daily activities. |
Pai Chu Phin is one of three highland villages of Bat Dai Son commune, about 5 km from the commune center, with 83 households, 463 people, 100% of whom are Mong ethnic people. This is the most difficult village of the commune when people still have to live without electricity, no telecommunication signal, and not enough water for daily use. Here, to have electricity to light up at night, better-off households will buy solar panels, the rest can only use oil lamps or flashlights but the usage time is very short.
There is no mobile signal, so when people want to make a phone call, they have to go to another village or to the commune center. Their water is completely dependent on nature, so during the dry season, people always do not have enough water to use.
Having directly experienced the deprived life of the people of Pai Chu Phin, we are truly impressed by their efforts to overcome it. Currently, 100% of the households in the village are multidimensionally poor, of which about 90% are poor and near-poor in terms of income; the whole village has 7/83 households that have built solid houses that meet the 3 hard criteria (hard foundation, hard frame - wall, hard roof); currently about 40% of households buy solar panels for lighting needs; 100% of families have mobile phones but only use them to watch the clock and as flashlights, they cannot be used to make calls when in the village; 100% of households in the dry season have to use water from holes dug throughout the corn fields for hundreds of years, even though the water quality is not hygienic.
The Party Secretary of Hau Mi Sung village shared: The biggest wish of the 83 households in the village is to soon have the state invest in national grid infrastructure to reach each family, build "hanging lakes" to store water to meet the needs of domestic water use to ensure hygiene during the dry season and install telecommunication broadcasting stations for the people.
175 households live in mobile signal "trough" areas
Bat Dai Son is a border commune of Quan Ba district, 28 km from the district center with 9 villages, 714 households, 3,792 people, 80% of whom are Mong ethnic people. By the end of 2024, the commune's poverty rate was up to 64.43%, among the highest in the district. Currently, the commune's 3 highland villages, Pai Chu Phin, Xa Phin and Thao Chu Phin, have 175 households and 989 people, but have not yet invested in telecommunications broadcasting stations. The lack of mobile waves makes the leadership, direction and operation of the Party Committee and the commune government face many difficulties; living in the "trough" area of mobile waves, people have to suffer many disadvantages and hardships in daily life, the need to access information and cannot perform essential public services on the current digital platform...
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| Without electricity, Vu Thi Bia's family has to grind corn with a generator. |
Chairman of Bat Dai Son Commune People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Toan said: 100% of the 3 villages of the commune are Mong ethnic people, accounting for 26% of the total population of the commune. The habit of the people is to live scattered in small hamlets, not concentrated; some households live in the core area of special-use forests. Therefore, because there is no telecommunications network, when it is necessary to direct, manage, and handle urgent issues arising at the commune level, cadres must be sent to the village to find a way to contact. Or when the village has something to report, they must go directly to the commune center. There is a village nearly 20 km from the commune center, traffic is difficult, so it takes a lot of time. We really hope that telecommunications companies will soon invest in broadcasting stations for the villages.
6 months of dry season lack of water for daily use
Bat Dai Son is located at an altitude of about 1,100 - 1,300 m above sea level, the surface water source for daily life and production is mainly taken from the Mien River, streams and streams in the area. However, these sources only meet the needs of people in low-lying villages and depend on the seasons of the year. During the 6 months of the dry season (November of the previous year to April of the following year), water is very scarce, most people in the commune have to "measure" their water for daily life, especially in the 3 highland villages that depend entirely on rainwater. Meanwhile, each family only has tanks (or stainless steel tanks) with a capacity of 2 - 3m3, not enough for the whole season. This situation has been reported to the provincial and district levels and branches but has not been resolved, so it has become a major concern of the local Party Committee and government.
Thao Chu Phin village chief Hau Mi Sung expressed: In the dry season, there are months when there is not even a drop of rain, households only dare to use water for eating and drinking. Lacking water, many households are willing to use unsanitary water from water storage pits on corn fields or go to neighboring villages, or have to go to the commune center more than 10 km away to ask for or buy water, people are very miserable because they do not have enough water for daily use. I just hope that the province will soon support investment in "hanging lakes" for people to store water and have enough water to use during the dry season.
In recent years, with the attention of the province and district, some infrastructures 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 effectively invested in projects to support livelihoods, support water tanks, etc. However, for the 3 highland villages, the most difficult thing for the commune is the national grid infrastructure, domestic water and especially the telecommunications network, which are in dire need of investment. "Hopefully, the requests of the people on the top of Bat Dai Son will soon come true" - Chairman of the People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Toan worried.
Article and photos: Duy Tuan
Source: https://baohagiang.vn/xa-hoi/202506/loi-thinh-cau-tren-dinh-bat-dai-son-3f46aea/
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