Environmental violations exposed via public hotline

Chinese citizens exposed 131 environmental offences via an official hotline in May, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In May, 163 tip-offs were called in to the hotline and handed over to local environmental protection departments for investigation.

A large majority of the complaints concerned air quality - 84 cases, or 64 percent of all notifications. Misconduct during various project approval stages precipitated a further 51 complaints.

In terms of location, 39 cases occurred in north China's Hebei Province, one of the country's most seriously polluted regions.

Punishment, ranging from fines or relocation through to forced closure, have been meted out for most of the violations, said the statement, without offering details of specific cases.