Hanoi (VNA) - Localities, agencies and organisations are working together to help disadvantaged people, needy workers and state policಞy beneficiaries enjoy a warm traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

On January 27, Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep presented Tet gifts to state policy beneficiaries in the northern province of Bac Kan, worth a total of 17.5 million VND (780 USD). On the occasion, the Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee also donated 10 million VND package to the provincial Centre for Social Protection, which is home to 36 children and elderly people in difficult background. The People’s Committee of the northern province of Vinh Phuc has decided to earmark over 17 billion VND (759,000 USD) from the local budget and mobilise different resources to help local social welfare beneficiaries and those who rendered services to the national revolution, as well as disadvantaged households. The amount also covers the packages for families with soldiers serving on the country’s islands and border areas, religious dignities and outstanding ethnic minority individuals across the province. In the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh, thousands of Tet packages have been given to orphans, people with disabilities, victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin and needy workers. More than 20 charity houses have also been handed over to needy members of the Association for Protection of People with Disabilities and Orphans and the Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin in Ha Tinh province. The trade union of Thanh Hoa province also provided financial housing assistance for 29 needy workers, worth over 1 billion VND (44,600 USD). Meanwhile the trade union of the central province of Binh Thuan organised an event titled “Tet Sum Vay” (Tet Gathering) for workers in the locality. Gift packages worth 1 million VND (45 USD) each were given to 250 underprivileged workers alongside 500 fishermen and families on social welfare. More than 21 billion VND (940,000 USD) has been sourced from the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong’s budget, helping more than 2,000 targeted households and ethnic minority people in the difficult districts of Lac Duong, Duc Trong, Lam Ha, Da Huoai and Dam Rong. In a similar move, the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh has mobilised over 22 billion VND (980,000 USD) to provide Tet gifts for nearly 27,000 families with war invalids, martyrs, national heroes and heroic Vietnamese mothers, each worth between 300-400,000 VND (14 – 19 USD). Another 14 billion VND (625,000 USD) has been mobilised by the provincial Fatherland Front Committee and sourced from the local budget to provide rice for tens of thousands of needy households in remote and Khmer ethnic areas in the province. Thousands of other residents in the region’s Hau Giang province have recently received free health check-ups, consultation services and medicine.-VNA