All firms ‘not complying’ with smog reduction steps

A mother and daughter wear masks as they pose with a statue in Beijing's Wangjing area on Sunday. (Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily)

BEIJING – A number of companies were found to be involved in irregularities harming the country's environment protection efforts, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has said.

Beijing banned heavy polluting gasoline-fuelled vehicles and trucks carrying construction garbage from roads.

The irregularities, including unauthorized resumption of production despite a government ban and non-compliance with emission reduction measures, were discovered by 10 inspection teams recently dispatched to local regions by the ministry.

The inspection teams called for local governments and relevant companies to investigate and rectify the situation as soon as possible.

READ MORE: Smog puts China's pollution battle on red alert

Beijing environmental authorities said Monday the city will maintain an orange alert for heavy air pollution for three more days as heavy smog is set to continue.

The alert, originally effective from Friday to Sunday, will not be lifted until midnight Wednesday, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau.

A total of 25 cities in China Sunday issued red alerts for smog.

READ MORE: Smog may be classified a 'disaster'

This Dec 17, 2016 photo shows buildings enveloped in smog in Beijing, capital of China. (Jin Liangkuai / Xinhua)

Air quality in Beijing is better on Monday than Sunday because of weak cold air but will return to medium or heavy pollution levels Tuesday and Wednesday, the bureau said.

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Under an emergency plan, heavy polluting gasoline-fuelled vehicles and trucks carrying construction garbage are banned from roads. A number of manufacturing firms are required to cut production.

China has a four-tier alert system for pollution, with red the highest, followed by orange, yellow and blue.