LAWMAKERS questioned law enforcement units over possible negligence and inaction concerning illegal structures that were built three years ago in the forest on Yangtai Mountain.

More than 2,500 trees, including saplings, were felled to make way for the two illegal structures, which cover 1,600 square meters.

The two illegal houses were recently dismantled following a media report.

At a meeting organized by Shenzhen Municipal People’s Procuratorate on Thursday, Zheng Xueding, a deputy to the municipal people’s congress, said he hoped related government agencies would hold the builders of the illegal buildings responsible and take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Another deputy, Xie Zuozheng, said he hoped the city’s procuratorate would investigate if there was any inaction or negligence of duties behind the incident.

A Shenzhen TV report in April triggered public outcry over the illegal structures, which had damaged the ecological environment, prompting the urban administration and forest police to investigate.

The investigation showed a total of 2,578 trees, including saplings, in an area of 44,000 square meters had been felled.

The structures are located halfway between the peak of Yangtai Mountain and Makan Village in Nanshan. They are hidden in the forest at an altitude of about 300-400 meters and are rarely visited.

The forest public security bureau said they filed an investigation into the two illegal structures April 30 and issued an administrative punishment on the builders of the structures that required them to compensate for the damage and restore the environment.

The investigation showed the two illegal structures had been built by two orchard owners — a man surnamed Huang, 52, and a man surnamed Guo, 53 — between 2015 and June 2016.

Police said the forest area is collectively owned by Xili Makan Industrial Co. and police are conducting a criminal investigation.

The Xili law enforcement unit said they issued an investigation notice regarding the structures, demanding that the unknown owners dismantle them by a deadline. However, the owners neither heeded the administrative notice nor proposed an administrative review.

Wang Haijun, head of Yangtai Country Park management, said they found the trees had been felled in 2015, but weren’t aware of whether the action had been approved by the forestry department. (Han Ximin)