Chinese enterprises were fined about 264million yuan (38.3 million U.S. dollars) for polluting the environment in the first quarter of this year, the country's top environment watchdog said Thursday.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and its suboffices across the country issued punishments in nearly 5,000 cases of violating environmental protection regulations and laws in Q1, up about 200 percent year on year.
Among them, enterprises in 224 cases had to pay between 10,000 and 100,000 yuan per day after exceeding the time limit for rectification set by the MEP.
A company dealing with waste in Sichuan Province was found to have polluted the soil with heavy metals after collecting and cutting batteries, and the case was transferred to local police for investigation.
In another case that was exposed, a textile and dyeing plant in Zhejiang Province was found to have forged water quality monitoring data after discharging untreated waste water.
Eight people responsible for the case have been been placed under "coercive measures," which may include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention and arrest.
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