The seizure of a free-of-charge iced tea tank put along a sidewalk in Hanoi last month was meant to remind everybody that the law must always be respected, no matter whether they are doing anything for charity or commercial purposes, an official pronounced on Tuesday.
In what is known as the first official response to public objections to the tank confiscation, the Hanoi Department of Transport said charity acts should also abide by government rules on keeping sidewalks clean.
“Putting an iced tea tank to offer the drink for free should be supported,” department deputy director Nguyen Hoang Linh said at a meeting in the capital city yesterday.
“But I think where the tank should be placed is something we must consider carefully.”
The transport official said the placement of the free iced tea tank, an imitation of a popular charity act in Ho Chi Minh City, should not “violate rules and regulations on the management of sidewalks.”
The iced tea tank on Giai Phong Street before it was seized by police on July 27, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre
On July 27, police offers in Thinh Liet Ward, Hoang Mai District took away the gratis iced tea tank and glasses put under a tree on the sidewalk of Giai Phong Street, saying it violated “regulations on keeping the sidewalk in order.”
The tank, capable of storing around 20 liters of water, was intended to help passers-by, mostly needy people, slake their thirst amid the scorching heat that enveloped Hanoi in May, according to local residents.
Similar free water tanks can be seen across Ho Chi Minh City, where the good deed is believed to stem and where no confiscation has ever been reported thus far.
“Establishments that occupy the sidewalk should also be handled in order to prevent people from thinking that authorities only crack down on the placement of the complimentary water tank while neglecting other service providers that also occupy sidewalk space,” Linh said.
But it is unclear whether Hanoi authorities will mount a crackdown on such establishments after the meeting yesterday.
A scrap dealer gets iced tea from a free water tank in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Sidewalks in big cities in Vietnam are usually occupied as parking places for shops and eateries, whereas street vendors will just settle anywhere on the roadside they deem convenient to serve customers.
Earlier this week, Nguyen Quang Hieu, chairman of Hoang Mai District, said he had ordered the Thinh Liet Ward administration to chalk the confiscation of the gratis iced tea tank up to experience.
“We also asked the Thinh Liet police to invite residents on Giai Phong Street to get the tank and glasses back,” he said, adding such a charity act “must be supported.”
The police officers have also reassured local dwellers that they are not prohibited from placing free water tanks on the sidewalk, but the objects must be put at “a suitable location that does not obstruct traffic.”
But not everyone supports the charity act.
A person, introduced as a Hanoi resident who works in the media industry, argues in an op-ed published on the online version of a Ho Chi Minh City-based daily that such public iced tea tanks can cause “traffic disorder.”
“What if four or five people park their motorbikes in the street and jostle to drink free water at rush hour?” he writes, adding this will lead to “inevitable heartbreaking traffic accidents.”
The writer thus supports the seizure of the iced tea tank and suggests those who offer free water on the sidewalk “be strictly penalized.”
He also says the free-of-charge iced tea supply is “a potential source of respiratory-related diseases or diarrhea” because “1,000 mouths drink from the same water tank.”
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