A total of 487 officials from Hebei Province in north China have been punished for malpractice related to pollution control, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced on Tuesday.

Hebei's Communist Party leadership and provincial government meted out the punishments after an investigation into the findings of environment protection inspectors dispatched by central authorities.

The officials have been punished in line with Party and governmental discipline regulations. Ten of the officials were removed from their posts, and five had their cases transferred to judicial departments.

Officials connected to the Handan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. were held accountable for failing to shut down a blast furnace that had been the subject of public anger, because of its smoke and dust emissions.

In another case, officials working with the provincial department of industry and information technology and the department of environmental protection were reprimanded, warned or publicly criticized for negligence of duties, after they allowed steel firms to keep equipment that should have been phased out. Li Bao, deputy head of the provincial department of environment protection, is now under judicial investigation for criminal liability.

(Based on a story originally by CRI)