Guwahati: The cry for a separate time zone for the North-East for optimal use of daylight hours in this region of the country has failed to cut ice with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) that has a simpler prescription to resolve the issue.
"The N-E states or the sunrise region of the country do not necessarily require to be placed in a separate time zone for optimal use of daylight hours compared to the rest of the country as they can do it by advancing the office hours to 8am from 10 am. The State governments are empowered to do it,"
said Dr P Banerjee, Head Time and Frequency Section of the NPL.Making a presentation in a seminar organized by Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) here, Dr Banerjee said, "Time zones can't be created arbitrarily as there is an international convention for creation of time zones. Creation of a separate time zone for N-E is not the only solution to prevent wastage of daylight hours. We have to find other ways to resolve it."
"Separate time zones were prevailing in India in pre-independence period. But that had to be done away with to remove complications," he said adding Government of India has been dealing with the problem for some time ever since an NGO had filed a PIL in 2000 demanding multiple time zones in the country. However, finally the court after receiving report from an expert committee constituted by the government gave ruling in favour of one time zone (IST) for the entire country.
The idea of a separate N-E time zone is a brain child of noted social worker and renowned filmmaker Jahnu Barua who has conducted suo moto research for the last 20 years to quantify 'colossal losses incurred by the N-E region in terms of man days and electricity consumption for not being able to utilize daylight hours optimally' for the reason that the region has to follow the IST that is much behind its local time.
