As the Chinese government tries to build a beautiful country, local environmental protection authorities should fulfill their duties to protect the environment instead of prioritizing local economic growth, says an article in the People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The "milky river" in Kunming, Yunnan province, and the "red groundwater" in Cangxian county, Hebei province, are ringing the alarm bell of environmental protection again. The water in these two places has been polluted for a long time and directly threatens local residents' health. These polluted environments are by no means a part of the beautiful China promised by the government.

China's fast economic growth in the past 30 years has not only caused serious environmental crises for the country, but also caused the heads of local environmental protection authorities to develop a mentality that their jobs are to prioritize economic growth over protecting the environment for public.

While the central government has vowed to transform China's growth model and pay more attention to protecting the environment, many local environmental authorities have not yet changed their minds.

To some extent, sometimes they are not watchdogs but protective umbrellas for the polluting enterprises. These environmental authorities should first transform their functions and roles. The central government should give them the power to curb local governments' plans to develop heavily polluting industries.

The heads of the environmental protection departments should have knowledge and working experience pertinent to their posts. However, some officials who do not even have basic environmental awareness are currently holding these positions, as is proved by the case in Cangxian county.

The director of the county's environmental protection bureau tried to comfort reporters by saying that red river water was nothing to worry about, as it came from water used to boil red beans. Such unqualified officials should be sacked and punished if investigations show the 24 deaths of cancer in the village since 1996 were caused by pollution and malpractice.