HCM City(VNA) – The first 20 free buses departed on February 10 carrying 1,725 poorworkers to their hometown for traditional New Year (Tet) festival as part of aprogramme launched by the Ho Chi Minh City Federation of Labour.

Tran Kim Yen,President of the Ho Chi Minh City Federation of Labour said that this year, thefederation and enterprises in local export processing zones and industrialparks have presented 4,816 travel tickers worth nearly 4.5 billion VND to help workersreunite with their families.

Alongside, a number ofTet gifts have been presented to the workers, she added.

On February 11 and 12,the federation will continue sending over 3,000 workers home for Tet via 67buses, said Yen.

Also on February 10, theYouth Federation of the central city of Da Nang held a “Green chung cakefestival” to make over 1,000 “chung” (glutinous square cake, which is popularlymade during Tet) for disadvantaged people in the locality.

Along with making thecake, the event also includes many folk games and art performance.

Nguyen Manh Dung,Deputy Secretary of the municipal Youth Federation said that local youth havealso conducted various activities to assist the needy, including presenting Tetgits to poor households and travel tickers to poor workers to return home forthe Tet, the most important festival of Vietnamese people in a year.

In the northernprovince of Quang Ninh, the provincial Labour Federation supported 37 workersof a construction project whose contractor fled without paying them with 300,000VND each. The Military Headquarters of the province also offered 1 million VNDto each worker.

Meanwhile, the YouthUnion of the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long has launched a voluntaryprogramme with diverse activities to support the needy.

Together with sendingTet gifts to soldiers based in Truong Sa archipelagos and platforms, localyouth also offered presents to orphaned children, policy beneficiaries, poorstudents, and children patients in the Vinh Long General Hospital.

In a hope to bring awarmer Tet festival for poor people, the Central Highlands province of Kon Tumhas presented thousands of gifts to them before Tet.

The provincialPeople’s Committee has ordered an advance payment of 11.1 billion VND from theprovince’s budget for the Fund for Supporting the Poor to assist 22,200 poorhouseholds during the festival. The province has also mobilised 17,750 Tetgifts worth over 4.5 billion VND from local organisations, enterprises anddonors for the poor.

The south centralprovince of Ninh Thuan has spent over 10 billion VND to support local poorhouseholds and policy beneficiaries. Earlier, the Prime Minister has approvedan aid of 956 tonnes of rice for Ninh Thuan.

Meanwhile in Ho ChiMinh City, the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital has launched free bus for nearly200 patients from southern, Central Highlands, Mekong Delta and centrallocalities to return home for Tet.

On February 9, poorworkers in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, workers in the Bac Dong Phuindustrial Park enjoyed a festival with many festive activities. More than2,330 Tet gifts and 100 bus tickets were also presented to poor workers.

A similar festival wasalso held for workers in the northern province of Hoa Binh, during which 500Tet gifts worth 350,000 VND each and 200 travel tickers were delivered to needyworkers.

In the northernprovince of Hung Yen, the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairshave set aside over 20 billion VND to support the needy during Tet.

The Mekong Deltaprovince of Tra Vinh has gathered nearly 20 billion VND from the society to assistpoor households and policy beneficiaries.

At the same time, over1,334 tonnes of rice have been delivered to locals in poor localities of thecentral Quang Binh province. Quang Binh is one of the localities hit seriouslyby floods and storms in late 2017.-VNA