Inner Mongolia leadership warned after environmental neglect found

The central government's inspection team warned provincial-level leadership in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region after finding neglect of the environment and severe damage from resource exploitation there.

In 89 natural reserves, there were 41 illegal projects involving 663 companies, and the top leadership failed to make policies to control the pollution from some industries like iron and steel, which caused deterioration of air, water and soil. The team sent by the central government, which focused on the performance of officials and governments, disclosed the problems exposed in their inspection from July 14 to Aug 14 and required the governments to take tougher measures, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Saturday.

The autonomous region's government has dealt with 1,637 cases exposed by the inspection teams, shutting down 362 polluting companies and detaining 57 people responsible for the problems. In addition, more than 280 officials have been held accountable for pollution.