The disciplinary watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday announced several local officials in the country's less-developed inland provinces had been sacked or demoted for wasting funds on the construction of lavish government buildings.

According to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), 18 county level officials of Puyang County in central China's Henan Province were given punishments ranging from internal Party warnings to dismissals. Party boss He Guangbo was demoted and former county head Zhang Jianguo was let off with a warning.

Despite Puyang being one of the poorest counties in China, the Puyang county government spent 32.84 million yuan (about 4.21 million U.S. dollars) on a new office building which covers a total area of 18,746 square meters between 2002 and 2004.

The county's labor and social security bureau was found to have embezzled 7.7 million yuan of pension funds and living subsidies for laid-off workers from a fertilizer factory to build the bureau's office building and training center.

In addition, the county's discipline inspection commission collected 1.06 million yuan of unwarranted funds from its lower level units to fill the gap in payments for its office building, according to the CCDI.

Other disciplined officials were Gao Zhixin, former head of the grain bureau of Shanxi Province, Chen Dongzhi, former vice mayor of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, Yang Zengyu, former head of the finance bureau of Lanzhou and Li Jianguo, former head of the mine safety watchdog in Xinzhou in Shanxi Province.

The news comes swiftly after the General Office of the State Council and the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC issued a circular last month in response to public discontent, reiterating the ban on construction of wasteful and extravagant government buildings, including departmental hotels and entertainment centers.