Over 5,000 facilities fined for violating environment rules

ANKARA

The Environment Ministry has fined 5,015 facilities a total of 101.3 million Turkish Liras (around $17.5 million) for violating environment laws in the first nine months of 2019.

The ministry carries out inspections across the country to see if facilities comply with the existing rules and regulations and to assess the impact of those facilities on environment.

As part of those inspections, officials from the ministry and the ministry’s provincial directorates visited a total of 33,837 facilities in January-September.

During the inspections, while over 5,000 facilities were fined, 183 facilities, which were found polluting the environment, were ordered to halt operations.

Officials mostly focus to determine whether the facilities breach regulations regarding noise pollution.

However, the largest fines were handed over for violating waste regulations.

The capital Ankara took the lead in terms of receiving the largest amount of fines. Facilities in Ankara which violate the rules were fined a total of 22 million liras, followed by Istanbul with 6.8 million liras.

Polluters in İzmir, the country’s third largest city, were fined 6 million liras.