Lukashenko criticizes lack of discipline in regions

Vetka District, 28 April (BelTA) - During his working trip to Gomel Oblast, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko got familiar with system for repair and restoration of old equipment and drew attention to the issues with discipline, both technological and personnel, BelTA has learned.

"Time is ripe for an iron dictatorship! The government remains stuck in Minsk. We held a meeting in Grodno to see a complete disconnect of the government from the governors," the head of state said.

As for the restored agricultural machinery, the president said: "The system that you together here is good. This is the way to go."

"We have enough of everything. We lack discipline," the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko clarified it to journalists and the public that the matter is about the equipment that has been in service on farms for 5 to 7 years and which was discarded as useless. "We decided to re-discard it, restore it and give it a new lease on life ," he said.

"Excellent!" the president said as he inspected the samples of restored equipment.

The head of state drew attention to the fact that this instruction should not have come from him. It is farms that should handle equipment more carefully and economically. "We do not take proper care of it. This costs money!" he said.

The president stressed that a Gomselmash harvester should be in service for at least 15 years. The same applies to tractors. Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled how he once talked with an U.S. farmer who had been operating a Belarusian tractor for more than 30 years, and it was in good working condition and fully operational.

The president stressed the importance of personnel discipline and urged to develop the necessary regulatory framework to formalize, for example, the impossibility to write off equipment easily and to ensure mismanagement and laxity do not go unpunished.

"We need such a system if we do not want to fight the way they fight in the south. We need regulatory legal acts, the law. If you break the law, you are held accountable," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.