Vice- Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Wu Xiaoqing has announced that two year-long investigation will be carried out to reach at the root level of false air quality report.

The minister said that some local governments ask monitoring stations to tamper with correct air quality data, so that they meet the national pollution standards. Falsified data ‘severely compromises’ the credibility of the government.

The central government has added pressure on state governments to meet the required pollution reduction targets. In March, President Xi Jinping assured at the annual session of the National People’s Congress that those who will violate the nation’s environmental laws will be punished with an ‘iron hand’.

In 2014, the environmental protection ministry also asked provincial governments to reduce air pollutants by 5% to 25% by 2017 comparing with 2012 levels. In 2016, under its next five year plan, China will target more ‘key’ pollutants.

Air pollution is said to be one of the main topics on the government’s agenda since the time smog incident took place in the country in January 2013. Wu affirmed that when the data is compromised then it can harm environmental monitoring efforts.

“Guaranteeing the truthfulness of the data is the bottom line”, said Wu. On Monday, Beijing said that it has introduced measures to lessen the number of motorists on heavily polluted days. It is the latest move taken by authorities in Beijing to cub the choking smog that has covered the city in recent years.

As per the new environmental law, penalty will be levied on those who would be found guilty of trying to evade pollution monitoring systems.