Xinhua reports that liquor makers in central China’s Henan province are planning a legal challenge to fight a ban on Communist Party officials and civil servants drinking alcohol at lunch during work days.

The ban was introduced in January last year. Local restaurants are complaining of fewer lunch customers and lower revenues from not selling as much alcohol.

Xinhua quoted lawyer Kang Yinzhong, representing the Henan Alcohol Association, as saying, ‘Drinking is a private affair and holding public office shouldn’t keep someone from consuming alcohol as long as it does not affect their work.’

Xinhua reported that Kang Yinzhong is ‘collecting opinions of liquor companies and would submit them to the provincial legislature demanding a revision or end to the ban’
Source: Reuters