Residents of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, the government and a public expressway corporation accepted a mediation proposal Thursday on their fight over air pollution.

The Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission, a home affairs ministry panel, made the proposal after the residents lodged a complaint with it last October over the government's failure to abide by a December 2000 settlement on vehicle emissions.

The residents alleged that the state and the state-run Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. reneged on the agreement reached at the Osaka High Court after they had sued the government over illnesses caused by air pollution.