Oversight will bolster enforcement of laws

China's top legislature called on Monday for strengthened air pollution control measures in key sectors as it concluded inspections on the implementation of the Air Pollution Control Law and found the law is not adequately applied in some areas.

The legislature's inspections in eight provincial regions, including Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, found many local governments failed to implement measures as required by the law to control air pollutants from bulk coal consumption, straw burning, construction sites, mines and motor vehicles, top legislator Li Zhanshu told a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Monday.

Bulk coal is a major contributor to smog in northern China during the winter. Li said more than 200 million metric tons of bulk coal is consumed in the region as a heating source each winter. Calculations by authorities show that air pollutants from a ton of bulk coal used for heating equals that of 10 to 15 tons of coal used in power generation.