China's Environment Minister says he feels "guilty" for having failed to curb the deadly air pollution in major cities which claims over a million lives every year.
Chen Jining said he was guilty and wanted to reprimand himself, Xinhua news agency reported. The Minister said that since the beginning of this season's winter, heavy air pollution in various places in China disrupted production activities and caused people immense problems.
The public felt anxious about the smog, he said.
Recently, Beijing and about two dozen north China cities were shrouded in a thick blanket of smog, prompting the authorities to issue a red alert — the highest of the four-tier air pollution warnings.
So much so that residents of Beijing temporarily fled the city to celebrate New Year.
In the past few years, the Chinese Government has taken several steps to contain air pollution — an offshoot of unbridled industrialisation, coal-fired power plants and ever-increasing number of cars.
Though the measures have been effective, gray skies and smothering smog time and again have reminded the authorities that a lot still needs to be done.