Experts say that when the district level is abolished and communes are merged into "miniature districts", it is possible to consider establishing specialized departments to help the People's Committees at the commune level manage their work.
A corner of Duy Tien town area of Ha Nam province - Photo: NAM TRAN
Currently, the whole country has 10,035 commune-level administrative units. It is expected that when reorganized, this number will be reduced by about 60 - 70%, and each commune will be almost like "a small district".
The problem is to organize a model of the commune-level political system to operate effectively, especially the grassroots government.
To make the "miniature district" government operate effectively
Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dinh - former Deputy Minister of Home Affairs - said that currently, according to regulations, the number of commune-level officials and civil servants, depending on the size, area, and population, can be up to 25 people, including 6 professional civil servant positions.
However, when the arrangement is carried out, maybe 3-5 commune-level units as at present will be merged into 1 new commune-level unit and considered as a "miniature district" or a "large commune", then everything will have to change, especially when the district level is abolished to ensure suitability.
According to Mr. Dinh, after the arrangement is completed, the number of civil servants of the new commune cannot be at 25 people but will have to be at least double, about 50 people, to be able to manage and carry out the work.
From there, Mr. Dinh proposed that the commune-level government (grassroots level) in the future needs to fully organize specialized agencies like the current district level.
"Simply put, it is possible to build a new organizational structure, which may include specialized departments under the People's Committee at the commune level - a "miniature district" instead of the current 6 specialized civil servant positions.
This will help form specialized agencies to help the People's Committees of communes and wards to be able to undertake their tasks well in the new situation," Mr. Dinh stated his opinion.
Mr. Dinh also informed that in the proposal to build the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (amended), the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to remove the regulation on "commune-level cadres and civil servants".
The Ministry of Home Affairs proposes a policy to unify the civil service from the central to the grassroots level. This policy aims to ensure connectivity, equality, and consistency between the cadres and civil servants at the communal level and the cadres and civil servants in the political system, ensuring a unified civil service from the central to the provincial, district, and communal levels.
According to Mr. Dinh, this is an important proposal to strengthen and improve the quality of grassroots government to meet increasing demands.
"That means our national administrative system will have 3 levels, and at the same time the quality of civil servants must be the same.
At that time, it is possible to rotate and connect commune-level civil servants with provincial and central civil servants, meeting the requirements of quantity and qualifications.
At the same time, when the district level is abolished, officials and civil servants from the district and provincial levels will be sent to the commune level to work. When these tasks are carried out simultaneously, I believe that sufficient and quality will be ensured," Mr. Dinh analyzed.
Mr. Dinh said that in the coming time, 2/3 of the tasks of the district level after being abolished will be assigned to the commune level and 1/3 will be transferred to the provincial level. Thus, the commune level will take on more tasks.
Therefore, along with changing the regime and policies for cadres, it is necessary to increase investment in equipment and facilities for the commune level to ensure that tasks are met.
Dr. Nguyen Tien Dinh - Photo: GIA HAN
Abolishing district level: Proposal to send provincial and district officials and civil servants to work in communes
National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Duong Province) agreed with Dr. Dinh's proposal and said that with the amount of work transferred to the commune level, researching the establishment of a certain specialized agency such as a department for the commune level would be a solution to be able to handle the work.
She emphasized the need to carefully study, consider, and review to appropriately organize the new commune-level government apparatus.
At the same time, it is believed that when organizing a two-level local government, there is no distinction between commune-level civil servants and civil servants at other levels (provincial and central levels). That means there is only one type of civil servant.
"Eliminating discrimination among civil servants at all levels will create connectivity to help attract talented, qualified, and professional people to work at the commune level.
"If commune-level officials and civil servants are equivalent to other levels, then position allowances, salary allowances and other benefits will not be differentiated," said Ms. Nga.
Delegate Pham Van Hoa - member of the National Assembly's Committee on Law and Justice - also emphasized that when merging provinces and eliminating the district level, it is necessary to increase staff from these two levels to the commune level.
He said only then will there be enough professional staff to take on the work and improve the quality at the grassroots level.
He agreed that there must be a specialized agency to help the People's Committee at the commune level (grassroots level) to operate.
However, whether this specialized agency is called a department or division or what it is specifically needs further research because even if many communes are merged into one, the number of cadres and civil servants cannot be too large.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-cap-huyen-de-xuat-lap-phong-chuyen-mon-thuoc-ubnd-cap-xa-20250322155200237.htm
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