More than 18,000 officials failed or performed badly in protecting environment, says China

In Shandong, one of China's most industrialised provinces, more than 10,000 companies were fined a total of 100 million yuan ($15 million) by inspectors in August-September.

By: Reuters | Beijing | Updated: December 28, 2017 2:21 pm

China says more than 18,000 officials failed or performed badly in protecting environment

Beijing dispatched four rounds of environment inspectors across the country from February 2016 to uncover violations of anti-pollution measures (Representational photo)

More than 18,000 Chinese officials failed to take any action or performed badly in protecting the environment since 2016, according to a national crackdown that saw Beijing inspectors visit some of the world’s most polluted cities. In one case, sewage from 150,000 residents in Jingdezhen in southern Jiangxi province was directly discharged into rivers due to a lack of treatment facilities.