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China may impose daily fines to curb pollution
07/Oct/2006: With current penalty limits making long-term pollution profitable to many companies, the Chinese government might fine companies that pump untreated wastes into lakes and rivers, on a daily basis, in a desperate attempt to save the water bodies in the country, which are already overwhelmed by years of pollution.
Currently, companies are fined around $34,000 (200,000 Yuan); regardless of how long they violate pollution regulations binding on them.
More than 300 million people in China do not have access to safe drinking water. The country’s per-capita water resources are less than a third of the global average and it is steadily falling. Chronic pollution of water bodies and poor management of water and wastes, have worsened the water scarcity problem in the world’s most populous country.
Mao Rubai, the chairman of the Environmental and Resources Protection Committee of the Chinese parliament, said that daily fines could force the companies to clean and treat their wastes. He added that the fine should be calculated from the day a company is found guilty of pollution discharge, until the day its emissions meet the environment standards prescribed by the government.
A study conducted by China’s State Environmental Protection Agency, suggests that a daily fine of $5,000 to $12,600 (40,000 to 100,000 Yuan) could force companies to adhere to the environmental protection requirements.
People who are living in rural areas in China have been staging frequent protests against the government, to force the authorities to keep up the promises made by the government, to cleanup the environment in rural areas. Yangtze River, the longest river in China and in Asia, is so polluted that more than a third of its waters cannot be treated to make it potable.
The yellow river is not an exception, as its waters are not fit for drinking or swimming either. The Chinese government is considering amendments to the Clean Water Act, which came in to force in this country in 1984.
K Siva
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