Fluctuating prices, covert camera installations among voters’ concerns

Dương Thanh Bình, head of the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Ombudsman Commission presents a report at the 35th session of the committee on Wednesday in Hà Nội.—VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — Voters particularly pay attention to wage increases and they also expressed concerns over the fluctuating prices of certain goods, where prices of raw materials are seeing significant and sustained increases, posing challenges to production, business operations and people’s livelihoods.

The voters are also worried about the issue of covert camera installations for malicious purposes.

Dương Thanh Bình, head of the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Ombudsman Commission talked about voter concerns when he presented the commission’s report for May and June, at the 35th session of the committee on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

The session is scheduled to take place over one and a half days at the National Assembly House.

Bình also said that the voters were concerned about the National Assembly’s adjustments to the regional minimum wage, regulations on salary mechanisms for State-owned enterprises, adjustments to the base salary and the passing of legislative projects directly impacting citizens’ lives.

The voters expected the policies to alleviate difficulties, contribute to national economic development, stabilise and improve people’s lives.

Additionally, the voters were highly interested in the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Việt Nam, as well as the foreign activities of Party and State leaders.

The voters believed that the diplomatic activities would create numerous opportunities for cooperation and friendship and contribute to the country’s economic development while affirming Việt Nam’s position and role internationally.

The voters were also concerned about incidents of child drowning occurring in many places during the summer break.

They worried about the arrangements of shift work and communal meals in enterprises, the nutritional quality of meals remained inadequate for replenishing workers’ strength and food safety and hygiene practices in communal kitchens; the prevalence of e-cigarette use among school students; limited digital infrastructure in some mountainous areas, posing challenges for electronic identification and the implementation of administrative procedure reforms by local authorities.

In addition, irregular weather changes, frequent occurrences of heatwaves, saltwater intrusion and flooding in many regions; African swine fever outbreaks; ongoing incidents of significant explosions causing severe consequences in recent times; inadequate medical insurance coverage for certain medicines, laboratory chemicals under the health insurance reimbursement list, affecting the rights of insured patients were also among the voters’ concerns.

Through the report on voter interaction results before the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly, the commission summarised 1,458 proposals from the voters.

The commission had promptly transferred the proposals to competent authorities for resolution according to regulations, Bình said.

Moreover, the commission proposed the committee and the Government to direct relevant ministries and sectors to continue deploying effective measures to control inflation and stabilise market prices.

They have also been asked for specific regulations on the quality of meals for shift workers and ensuring food safety in collective kitchens at enterprises.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to promptly finalise support policies for agricultural production losses due to epidemics, particularly in assisting farmers affected by African swine fever.

The Ministry of Public Security should lead and coordinate with relevant agencies to prevent and strictly handle individuals using covert surveillance cameras for malicious purposes because this not only caused distress and psychological impact on victims but also had negative implications for social order and security.

Also at the session, Bình said the voters and the public highly appreciate the policies of the Party, National Assembly, and Government over the past time, while also commending the outcomes of the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly, Lieutenant General Trần Quang Phương chairs the 35th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Wednesday in Hà Nội.—VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

Speaking at the session, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly, Lieutenant General Trần Quang Phương, said that the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed with the commission’s report for May and June.

The report provided a comprehensive overview and basic analysis of voluntary work activities, providing information, evaluations of the situation and the implementation of voluntary work under the responsibility of relevant agencies.

Phương said some content needed to be added in the report, such as public concern over diphtheria outbreaks; the rising trend of domestic violence, particularly towards women and children.

The report had summarised complaints and petitions related to land, environment, construction and labour; however, it should have a clear analysis of the reasons behind the increase in complaints and petitions related to the issues; assess the quality of receiving, processing, and responding to the complaints and petitions by governmental agencies.

Phương told the commission to add the content of strengthening publicity work on epidemic prevention, epidemiological work to control diseases, especially emerging diseases to the report.

He also asked the Government to fix the problem that citizens must purchase medicines under the medicine list covered by the health insurance fund. — VNS