Hold polluters accountable for their actions

The CCTV headquarters is shrouded in heavy smog in the central business district in Beijing, China Dec 7, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

A DEPUTY MAYOR OF ANYANG, Central China's Henan province, leading an inspection team to investigate the cause of industrial dust, was denied entry to a construction site for over half an hour recently. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

That the Anyang deputy mayor was kept waiting at a construction site, which apparently failed to keep its dust emission in check, offers a glimpse into the difficulties facing the fight against air pollution.

To maximize their profits, some local enterprises have tried to bypass pollution checks by installing inferior dust-proof facilities or not installing any at all. Their disregard for public health has a lot to do with the deteriorating air quality.

Local environment authorities are also to blame for their lax management and inefficient enforcement of the new environment protection law, which allows them to impose fines on enterprises causing dust pollution. However, in most cases, the punishments were basically confined to vocal warnings.

That explains why the Anyang construction site turned a deaf ear to public complaints against its illegal operations. The construction company should be held accountable for the air pollution, so should the incompetent officials who failed to do their job.

Anyang is not a stranger to severe air pollution, though. The Ministry of Environmental Protection had urged the city to improve the poor air quality less than two years ago.

After shutting down more than 100 polluting enterprises and holding accountable dozens of relevant officials, the city authorities gifted residents a blue sky in just 200 days.

But soon tons of industrial waste and serious air pollution returned to the city through the south end of the Jingjinji (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) economic circle.

Pollutants can travel with the wind to large swathes of northern China and cause breathing problems for many people.

And because the collective heating system in the North is mostly fueled by coal, and pollution is likely to intensify as winter approaches, more concerted efforts should be made to keep major polluters in check.