China says that the stricter rules and regulations on air pollution that it has implemented have now caught and punished more violators than before.
According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, more than 300 companies have been slapped with fines for violating new pollution regulations in the first six months of 2016. Furthermore, 1,291 cases have been moved to administrative detention to be resolved within 15 days, while 840 cases have been sent to justice departments for further investigations, China Daily reported.
Tan Weiyong, head of the Ministry's environmental supervision division, also said that they have gone after projects that are still under construction, reviewing and assessing the environmental impact of such works.
He revealed that they have uncovered 624,000 projects violating environmental protection laws and regulations, and have already ordered the shut down of over 72,000 of them.
Tan said that the stronger punishments that were put into place have significantly helped in the reduction of pollution, an assertion supported by a report issued by the China University of Political Science and Law.
According to Wang Canfa, head writer for the study and an environmental law professor at the university, a surprising 85 percent of the companies punished have stopped their erring ways, Wang added that environmental protection authorities have taken greater advantage of the stricter regulations to do their work more effectively.
However, Wang also reminded that there is still a lot of work at hand and suggested that additional inspectors be hired to fully implement the new laws.
Environmental protection authorities have also gone after local officials who have neglected the call to implement the stricter rules, Invertariando China reported.
In the inspection conducted by teams sent by the State Council in July, more than 10,870 cases of neglect were discovered, resulting in 2,000 officials being meted with punishments ranging from suspensions to demotions and even public criticisms.