 "Chinese govt says polluters fined $654 million in 2015")
China, the world's biggest emitter, slapped fines amounting to $654 million on polluters in 2015, an increase of 34% over 2014, the government said on Friday.
The environmental authorities delivered more than 97,000 punishment notices to polluters, Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.
"They also worked with police and judicial agencies so that serious offenders not only faced administrative punishment but also criminal penalties," he said.
Polluters involved in 2,079 cases were placed under police detention and those in 1,685 cases were prosecuted.
About 1.77 million enterprises were inspected, with 191,000 of them punished, 20,000 closed and production suspended in 34,000.
"I would like to stress that severe punishment is not an end but a means to have enterprises understand the importance of abiding by the law," Chen said.
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The ministry also stepped up supervision of local governments, inspecting 33 cities and interviewing 15 chief city officials, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China's revised environmental protection law took effect in January 2015.
Last December, China's capital Beijing issued the first-ever red alert as the city of over 22 million people faced the worst ever smog, forcing authorities to shut down schools and putting restrictions on factories and traffic.
The smog level in December crossed the most hazardous mark of PM 2.5 the smallest and deadliest form of airborne particulate matter crossing 500.