Citizens in a quandary over ‘air pollution fees’
Print Edition
A report that a city in central China’s Hebei Province was charging its citizens 100 yuan (US$16.13) as air pollution fees was denied by the local government.
The air pollution fee was reportedly being collected from the residents of Anguo City for the first time, prompting questions on how the money will be used, hebnews.cn reported yesterday.
The website said it received calls from residents who wanted to know more about the new fee.
Some of them questioned why the city “asked the people to pay the bill” after receiving pollution control funds from the central government.
Earlier, an Anguo government official confirmed the existence of such a fee and said it was similar to trash processing fee.
However, later yesterday, Anguo government said the charge mentioned in the report was actually garbage and sewage disposal fees that the city had recently collected.
The government said it never asked any other organization or individual to collect the fees for it and the fees are not collected together with residents’ heating fee.
In October, the central government said it will spend 5 billion yuan to curb severe air pollution in north China, and slash the PM2.5 density by 25 percent within the next five years.
The special fund, essentially a reward for effective measures taken by the regional governments, will be used to improve the air quality in Beijing and Tianjin cities, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces.
Hebei, among the most polluted of areas, is a major target of the campaign.
The northern regions, which have more heavy industries than other areas, have the worst air quality in China.
Hebei Health and Family Planning Commission said yesterday that it had kicked off a program monitoring the effects of haze on people’s health, especially PM2.5 and its composition.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
