Polluted river not my responsibility, says Chinese official after 'reward offer'

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The polluted river in Ruian. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 11:46am, 19 Feb 2013Updated: 3:17pm, 19 Feb 2013

A senior environment official of a town in eastern China said his bureau was "not responsible" for a polluted river after he was challenged to swim in the water for 200,000 yuan.

Bao Zhenming, the environmental protection bureau chief of Ruian, in coastal Zhejiang province, was offered the reward (HK$246,000) by an entrepreneur who wanted to bring attention to waste-dumping in the river.

The responsibility does not lie with us, but we will pay attention to it

"We are not responsible [for the pollution]," Bao told Cnr.cn, the Web site of the official broadcaster China National Radio, on Monday.

“The responsibility does not lie with us, but we will pay attention to it,” Bao said.

Passing on the responsibility, he added he had alerted the water conservancy bureau about the river pollution.

On Saturday, the Hangzhou entrepreneur, Jin Zengmin wrote on Sina Weibo: “If the environmental protection bureau chief dares to swim in [Ruian's] river for 20 minutes, I will pay [him] 200,000 yuan.”

He also uploaded several photos of the river, which looked entirely blocked by floating rubbish. Jin accused rubber overshoe factories along the river for dumping industrial waste into the river, and he complained about the environmental bureau’s inaction.

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