25 July 2003
Brest regional government bans morning, evening sale of liquor in village stores for harvesting period
The Brest regional government has banned the sale of alcohol in village stores before 11 a.m. and after 6 p.m. for the period of the coming harvesting campaign.
The decision was initiated by the regional police department, which cited the need to prevent farmers, in particular combine operators from drinking alcoholic beverages in order to make their performance more efficient, a spokesman for the department told BelaPAN.
However, the ban does not apply to village bars and roadside cafeterias.
Villagers are skeptical about the measure's efficiency. "Truck drivers bringing grain from fields to granaries call at the store during the working hours and buy alcohol without problems," a salesperson at
a Brest district said in an interview with BelaPAN.The ban has been introduced for about 20 days but may be extended depending on the harvesting campaign's progress.
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