Pingtan county in Fujian province will step up its crackdown on freeloaders in government departments in a bid to enhance government transparency and efficiency, local news portal ptnet.cn reported on Sept 14.

A total of 84 officials and cadres claiming salaries while absent from their workplaces have been sacked in the crackdown, the website said.

The drive was launched following a State Council meeting where Premier Li Keqiang urged no mercy for freeloaders who gained illegal profits from public funds. To the surprise of those fallen officials, this time the authorities took it seriously.

“Some of them chose not to pay attention to it, believing it was just a formality like before and they just needed to wait till the whole thing blew over,” said Wu Zhaoyong, head of a team designated to implement the crackdown.

Those fluke-minded officials then faced their consequences one by one, as the team penetrated secretly into all 36 government departments and thoroughly examined their attendance as well as other behaviors.

A couple of senior officials were punished for covering up for freeloaders in their departments.

Pingtan will continue the crackdown in the future and eradicate freeloading, said an official with the inspection team.