Minister Hoang Tuan Anh and his entourage rushed with local authorities and oversaw operations that brought the fire under control an hour later.
A hectare of forest, located in a buffer zone of the UNESCO-recognized world natural heritage Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, had been destroyed, the park management said.
Several people had started the fire to quarry for stone, they added.
Following the fire, Anh instructed concerned agencies in the central province to take strict action against stone blasting in the park, particularly in the buffer zone.
But the directive appeared to be rather belated.
Speaking with Thanh Nien Saturday, Nguyen Cam Son, the People’s Committee chairman of Quang Binh’s Bo Trach District, where the park is based, admitted clandestine stone blasting and splitting has been happening for a long time unchecked.
Son said the district government had banned stone quarrying in areas close to the park buffer zones. Anyone flouting the directive would face fines and have their quarrying equipment confiscated, Son said.
But so far the district government had failed to ascertain the boundary and the precise areas of the buffer zones in the park, he said, adding no official document had been issued on this matter.
Director Luu Minh Thanh of the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park said the management had stopped licensing stone quarrying in the park. But several people continued their activities paying no heed to the environmental impact of their actions, he said.
Other rocky heritage sites
Many cultural landmarks in the central province of Binh Dinh have also had to bear the brunt of illegal stone quarrying.
The national historic and cultural heritage site, Ba Mountain, has not been spared the damage caused by residents of different communes in Binh Dinh’s Phu Cat District blasting stone.
Thanh Nien visited the scene to find many large rocks had been blasted and split at the Da Chet cave, a popular tourist attraction.
In the northern province of Thanh Hoa, stone quarrying at the Tien Son Linh Mau Mountain has also seriously damaged the area around the famous Hoa Long pagoda in Vinh Loc District.
Two companies, situated on the foothold of the mountain, have been licensed to blast stone for several years.
Locals told Thanh Nien the ongoing stone quarrying would take a toll on the mountain and the two caves recognized as national heritage sites - Kim Son and Tien Son, which are at the back of the mountain.
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HERITAGE PROTECTION A PRESSING TASK
At a regular session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee late last month, lawmakers grilled Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh on the damage inflicted on cultural heritage sites and artifacts nationwide.
They expressed disappointment at what they said was Anh’s failure to offer specific solutions to the problem, besides calling on the support of the whole society in protection the nation’s heritage. |
Reported by Thanh Nien staff |
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