An official of the environmental protection bureau of Luoning county, Henan province, has been recently punished for taking his family out for picnic in a government vehicle, after exposure by netizens on micro blog.

A netizen called Xingfuxiaodayi posted nine photos on Sina weibo on Sunday, which show some adults and children having food on a river bank. Next to them are two cars, one of them has the words "environmental inspection" painted on its doors.

The caption of the photos reads that an official of the local bureau of environmental protection was taking his family out for a picnic on Sunday.

In response, the bureau said on Monday that what the post had said was not true. "We were conducting an around-the-clock inspection on the waste discharged along the river… Actually the deputy director of the bureau, named Du Huyong, was conducting an inspection at that time."

However, netizens continued to challenge the response and said it was preposterous.

On Tuesday, the office of Luoning county Party committee published an announcement online admitting the deputy head of the environmental protection bureau had breached the Party's discipline.

"According to the arrangement, Du used the car of the bureau to inspect the river on March 25. During the inspection, he took family members and carried out playful activities irrelevant to his work, which has breached the discipline," the announcement said.

According to the announcement, the county's Party committee for discipline inspection has temporarily suspended Du's right to use the car, and issued a warning to him.