BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China has punished several senior officials in the city of Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, over poverty-relief violations, the top discipline inspection agency of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced Wednesday.

Major irregularities were found, including incomplete implementation of decisions made by the CPC Central Committee, failure to rectify existing poverty-relief problems and lax supervision or administration, according to a statement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

At least 11 officials in Zhangjiakou have been held accountable for the violations.

Hui Jian, secretary of Zhangjiakou City Committee of the CPC, and Mayor Wu Weidong were asked to make self-criticisms, while deputy secretary of the city's CPC committee Liu Baoqi and Vice Mayor Yan Wanglin were given warnings.

Party and government chiefs as well as disciplinary agency heads in Yuxian and Kangbao, two counties in Zhangjiakou, were also punished with a measure of Party discipline or with administrative sanctions, including warnings or dismissals.

Investigation during September and October found 441 items of evidence that suggested violations in poverty-relief work in Zhangjiakou, while the leading group for poverty relief in Yuxian had not held a single meeting in a year, according to the statement.

Fifteen towns and villages in Kangbao County retained or embezzled poverty-relief or agricultural funds for their own "small coffers," money that is secretly stored and should not be used privately.

The CCDI urged various local governments to step up supervision and punishment, learn a lesson from Zhangjiakou, carry out policies and decisions made by the CPC Central Committee and take political responsibility on poverty eradication.

The penalties came as China is moving closer to becoming a moderately prosperous society (xiaokang) and eliminating poverty by 2020.

Ensuring quality poverty reduction was made a top priority at the central rural work conference last week.

China lifted more than 10 million rural people out of poverty in 2017.