Thousands of farmers in Long Thanh district, Dong Nai province have agreed to receive Vedan’s compensation and have agreed to cancel their lawsuits against this firm.

A Dong Nai farmer sticks in the form.

Around 5,000 families in the four communes of Long Tho and Phuoc An in Nhon Trach district and Long Phuoc and Phuoc Thai in Long Thanh district were affected by Vedan’s waste water discharge into the Thi Vai river. They filed over 3,000 complaints against the company in local courts.

On August 27 and 28, Dong Nai authorities released forms to collect farmer opinion on whether they want to sue Vedan or accept its compensation.

Most farmers accepted the compensation though they don’t know how much money they would claim from Vedan’s compensation fund, worth 120 billion dong.

“Others have agreed to take compensation, so I have to,” said Bui Ngoc Tuyet from Phuoc Thai commune, Long Thanh district.

They didn’t want to lodge complaints against Vedan because they are afraid that the lawsuits will never end.

However, there are some farmers who still want to sue Vedan. “I don’t know how much money I will be paid from Vedan’s 120 billion dong compensation fund, so I will still sue them. I want to get 3 billion dong of compensation for ten years of breeding shrimp,” said a farmer named Nguyen Thi Le Hoa.

In Long Thanh district, six out of 2,089 families didn’t agree with the compensation arrangement. Fourteen accepted the compensation but didn’t want to withdraw their complaints because they don’t know how much money they will be paid.

In Nhon Trach district, 2942 families agreed to take Vedan’s compensation and 13 disagreed and still wanted to sue Vedan.

Some farmers said that the local authorities pursued an absurd process: accepting Vedan’s compensation before calculating farmers’ losses.

Nguyen Lam Son, from Phuoc An commune in Nhon Trach district, is the only farmer in Dong Nai who has been seeking evidence so he can sue Vedan. He claims 502 million in losses over 10 years and did not take the compensation form. He said he would not change his mind in suing Vedan.

This is a headache for Dong Nai since Vedan said it would only pay compensation once all the farmers agreed not sue it.

PV