Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has proposed a local time zone that would be at least 60 minutes ahead of the Indian standard time (IST) and help the state save energy by better utilising sunlight.
Assam has been following the Indian Standard Time (IST) for the last 66 years but now it wants to follow the “chaibagaan time” — a daylight schedule British tea planters introduced over 150 years ago.
Advocates of dual time zones say bagaan time would help increase productivity, reduce domestic and commercial power consumption and curb alcoholism.
Gogoi told journalists during an interaction on New Year's Day that local time would help the state save energy as the working hours would be advanced by an hour to make use of the daylight. Besides, everyone will remain energetic in the early hours though he did not specify if the government had received Central sanction to follow a time one hour ahead of IST.
Assam's tea gardens and oil establishments already have a system of local timings as the sun rises earlier in the Northeast than in the rest of the country.
