Certain cities have not properly implemented emergency systems that are supposed to kick in when heavy air pollution alerts are declared, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) revealed Sunday.
The problem cities, including Cangzhou, North China's Hebei Province; Dezhou, East China's Shandong Province; and Jiaozuo, Central China's Henan Province were among the 231 local governments recently inspected by MEP officials, who started more in-depth inspections of 18 cities on Wednesday.
The MEP said on its official website that Cangzhou's emergency response plan to deal with severe smog is "not rational enough," and that Cangzhou's Cang county and the city of Hejian under its administration have failed to list enterprises that should shut down on smoggy days.
Some of Dezhou's counties have failed to revise emergency response schemes, the MEP said. The ministry also criticized Jiaozuo for failing to implement rules which limit the number of cars on the road based on their license plate digits during a red smog alert that ran in the area from February 12 to 17.
China has a four-tier color-coded warning system for air pollution, with red being the most serious.
The MEP inspection team also named and shamed several enterprises for emitting illegal emissions and not measuring the quantities of pollutants they produce.
A total of 720 people were detained and 6,454 held accountable for pollution-related wrongdoings in 2016, Xinhua reported.
