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| Beaten Liquor Producers Challenge "Alcohol Ban" |
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2007-12-27 15:57:21
CRIENGLISH.com |
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Alcohol producers in central China's Henan Province are seeking to overthrow an "alcohol ban for civil servants", which has been adopted by many cities in the province since earlier this year. They claim the ban has hampered their local market expansion and caused them to suffer heavy economic losses.
The alcohol ban for civil servants, firstly set up in Xinyang City, has become a thorn in the side of many liquor producers in the region. Earlier this year, Xinyang banned its civil servants from drinking alcohol during their lunch break on work days. Those employees found to be getting out of line face severe punishment, including on the spot dismissal. To liquor producers' dismay, such a ban proved to be a popular act among governments of different cities, and in less than a year, over half of the cities in Henan adopted the ban too.
The Henan Business Daily reported that at a joint conference of Henan's major liquor enterprises held on December 22, which aimed to boost local market dominance, they gathered together their complaints and will soon submit a petition to the provincial government and people's congress to revoke, or at least revise the ban.
"Some of the punishments apparently have no legal ground, such as the so-called 'on the spot dismissal'. We have consulted with our lawyers, and are sure that the law doesn't support such a punishment. We decided to report our petition to the relevant authorities," said an official with the Alcoholic Drink Industry Association of Henan Province.
Kang Yinzhong, a lawyer and the legal consultant of the Henan Alcoholic Drink Industry Association, was the first person to claim that the "alcohol ban" is illegal.
"The country's Civil Servant Law doesn't require civil servants to refrain from drinking during their lunch time. Drink or not, it is the civil servant's right. Public power has no legal ground to interfere in a civil servant's life if he or she doesn't mess up their afternoon work," Kang said.
Kang further pointed out that punishments like "on the spot dismissal" are against the country's guidelines to "enforce law according to a lawful procedure".
Kang said the opinion of liquor companies should be carefully considered, as they pay a lot of taxes to the local government each year.
Many local liquor producers admitted that they felt the brunt of the alcohol ban for civil servants, as they were once a major customer group. "A 20 to 30 percent drop in sales is common," said a manager of a liquor company.
Xinyang, the city that first pushed forward the alcohol ban, expressed its determination to continue with it despite the flax.
"The ban can greatly improve civil servants' work quality in the afternoon and establish a good image of government organizations," Wang Xinqi, an official in Xinyang City told reporters. "And the ban doesn't restrict them from drinking in the evening or on weekends," she added.
A party chief from Xinyang City, Wang Tie, said in an interview with the website Xinhuanet in August that the ban had saved 43 million yuan ($US5.67 million), enough to build at least 40 elementary schools.
The ban has also gained support from citizens, many of whom say the ban has improved the efficiency and attitude of government workers greatly.
"In the past, I often found the civil servant I was looking for was absent in the afternoon, when I asked, they told me he had drunk too much and gone home. Thanks to the ban, things have changed for the better." Liu Quanxi, a local citizen told reporters.
According to public opinion, the liquor producers cry for help should be ignored and profits sought from other channels, other than revoking the ban. |
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