China launches new round of environmental inspections

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced on Tuesday China's central authorities will kick off a new round of environmental inspections.

Seven teams, conducting the second batch of this third round of inspections, will be dispatched to municipalities of Shanghai and Chongqing, and provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Yunnan for about one-month of inspections, according to the ministry.

The ministry urged relevant local government departments to coordinate inspection and rectification in an accurate and scientific manner and in accordance with the law, and prohibit one-size-fits-all approach and arbitrary accountability.

Outstanding ecological and environmental problems exposed by the people should be effectively solved, said the ministry.

Problems should be solved according to laws and regulations, practically and realistically, while avoiding "campaign-style" rectification, it said.

The first batch of the third round of inspections was launched in November last year, covering Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, according to the ministry.