"Our office is too busy to fuss with you. Come to the office and face us."

Such, unfortunately, was the reply to a citizen who recently filed an online complaint to the city landscaping office in Yingcheng, Hubei province.

Under a new set of regulations, government departments have been required to respond promptly to Internet complaints.

While the reply may technically have been a timely response, netizens and the public yesterday wasted no time pouring scorn on local government officials.

"I can't believe officials talk so naively these days. This is almost uncivilized language," said Wu Hai, a resident in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, who is a big fan of political books.

"To tell you the truth, I'm pretty disappointed to see this kind of response from Chinese officials," he told China Daily.

"This is such a disgrace for officials in China," wrote a netizen named "Flying Sand" from Guangdong province on Netease, a popular portal.

The Yingcheng government's reply came after a local resident named "Freezing Smile" suggested that local officials should visit a deserted landscaping site left uncared for along a pedestrian street in the city.

It was posted to the Letters to the Mayor section on the official government website.

"Will the Party and local residents be satisfied with such an inactive government institution like our landscape office?" the post said.

Under public pressure yesterday, the government in Yingcheng apologized and promised to punish the officials responsible.

"Leaders of the city's landscape office have filed a written explanation to the Party and the city government. They apologize to all netizens and have already repaired the pedestrian street that the residents have complained about," a statement from Yingcheng government said.

Official government websites normally run a section that allows residents to file online complaints that have ranged from reports of pollution to corruption appeals.

Officials, often government staff replying to online requests on behalf of government institutions, are required to reply to each online complaint and may get warned or blacklisted if they fail to do so.

(China Daily August 24, 2009)