New | China's environmental chiefs summon Zhengzhou mayor over worsening smog
Environmental Protection Ministry uses new powers to order officials to explain their plans
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has summoned the mayor of Zhengzhou for a closed-door "talk" over its worsening air pollution, as the Henan provincial capital became the third most polluted city in China.
Revisions to the Environmental Protection Law give the ministry the power to admonish local leaders for failing to rein in polluters, and Zhengzhou is the first provincial capital to be singled out.
"We have to address our problems. There are no excuses," Mayor Ma Yi was quoted by local newspaper the Dahe Daily as saying afterwards.
Zhengzhou's levels of PM2.5 pollution - tiny particulates that are most damaging to public health - increased by 18.2 per cent in the first six months.
In the first six months, the city had only 39 days of good or moderate air quality - 33 fewer days than during the same period last year.