Government Says It Is Proactively Considering Having Two Time Zones In The Country

Responding to an issue raised in the Lok Sabha by Biju Janata Dal member B Mahtab on Wednesday, the government has said that it is “proactively” considering the matter of having two separate time zones in the country.

This is the second time that the government has stated its position on this issue. Department of science and technology had said last month that it was conducting a study to give “scientific inputs” on the matter.

“Sun rises at 4am in Arunachal Pradesh while offices open at 10am. The ministry of science and technology has also done a study on this in the past,” Mahtab had said, pointing to the fact that there was a gap of nearly two hours in sunrise timings between the eastern and the western parts of the country.

He said some 2.7 billion units of electricity could be saved if there are two separate time zones and added that only the Centre can take a call on office timings. According to his calculations, the region loses at least Rs 94,900 crore every year because of redundant power consumption.

The issue came into limelight after Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, recently demanded a separate time zone for the North-East.