“Simple or crude” working methods are strictly forbidden during environmental inspections, Li Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment said at a news conference on Monday on the sidelines of the ongoing two sessions.

“To muddle through the check by central government’s environmental inspections, some local authorities would usually choose to shut down companies with polluting records at the last minute before the inspections. It was because they hadn’t performed their daily duty well,” Li said.

“Though it is not a mainstream phenomenon nationwide, it has had a negative impact on the government’s credibility and the companies’ basic rights. It is an act of bureaucracy and formalism, which should be strictly prohibited,” he added.

To regulate the working mode, Li said that those who handle the pollution by shutting down companies crudely would be warned and their identities and actions publicized in the media.

He said that, at the same time, the central government should play a leading role in the inspections. For example, if a problem is found, it can hand the case down to the local authorities and ask them to give companies an agreed timescale to deal with pollution instead of suspending operations immediately.

“The aim of inspections is not just punishing but also to help enterprises overcome the difficulties in environmental protection technologies,” he said.