Local governments to be pulled up for illegal land use

The number of illegal land expropriation cases increased sharply last year, but so did prosecutions, the Ministry of Land and Resources said.

The ministry revealed in a circular yesterday that 3,593 people, including two ministerial and provincial level officials, were punished after more than 90,000 cases of land use violations were investigated last year.

The circular revealed 385 people were penalized for illegal mining activities.