Dozens of residents in Nghe An Province’s Tien Thanh Commune destroyed a pig farm that they blamed for serious environmental pollution.

 Water in Ban Vang lake has turned black

According to the results of a recent environmental survey, the areas surrounding the Do Thanh Company pig farm had become desperately contaminated.

Midnight raid

A group of local residents in Hamlet No. 6B in Tien Thanh Commune gathered in front of the farm’s gate at 10pm on November 5 to request the facility to take drastic measures to deal with the pollution.

The protestors attacked the farm’s guard and a staff member after their request was turned down.

According to Tran Dinh Cam, head of Tien Thanh Commune Police, local authorities and police arrived two hours after the incident in order to break up the crowd. The farm had incurred nearly VND200 million (USD9,521) in damage he noted.

Yen Thanh District Police began questioning alleged participants in the attack. Locals claimed they were compelled to attack the farm as it had caused serious environmental pollution but had taken no action to improve the situation.

Repeated violations

Local residents in No. 6B told DTiNews that the farm had discharged a large amount of untreated wastewater and into Ban Vang Reservoir, seriously contaminating the environment and affecting lives of local people.

Nguyen Van Thanh, a local resident living close to the farm, said, “Our environment was clean before with safe water. But the environment has deteriorated since the Do Thanh pig farm began operations recently.”

Pham Thi Thon, head of the hamlet’s Women Union, noted that they had demanded that the local authorities deal with the pollution on seven or eight occasions but the situation had not been improved.

Tran Dinh Cam, head of Tien Thanh Communal Police, said the pig farm was licensed in 2009, but only officially began operations since April 2011. The farm currently raises around 1,000 pigs. When the farm was found polluting the environment, they were fined VND2 million (USD95.2).

“We have requested that the Thanh Do Company build a waste treatment facility to deal with the pollution before September 15, 2011 but they have taken no action. We plan to ask the company to build a biogas system to take advantage of their waste in an effort to curb the pollution,” said Nguyen Sy Hung, Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People’s Committee.

In the meantime, Nguyen Van Thanh, Director of Do Thanh Company, claimed it wasn’t efficient to use biogas technology to deal with pig waste.

He added that the firm could only build a waste treatment system if local residents allowed it to let out around 10,000 cubic metres of waste into the local Ban Vang lake.

 The company discharges untreated wastewater into the environment

Local residents protest against the pollution

The pig farm’s wastewater

Untreated wastewater seriously polluting the environment