Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining meets the media during the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing March 8, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Minister: Air pollution probe finds 2,000 faults

By Zheng Jinran

The ongoing monthlong environmental inspection of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring provinces has exposed over 2,000 pollution problems, the environmental protection minister said Wednesday.

Each problem will be investigated, with the results released to the public, Chen Jining said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress.

More than 260 inspectors from the ministry and provincial environmental authorities have inspected over 6,000 government departments and companies since Feb 15.

Governments that have failed to solve pollution problems face measures to make them to work harder on reducing air pollution, Chen said.

He said the ongoing inspection was working and that the ministry plans to conduct another one or two rounds of large-scale inspections this year in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring provinces, which saw severe smog in the winter.