The adoption of a separate local time zone for Assam, as proposed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to save precious daylight working hours, has evoked a mixed response with a majority preferring initial advancement of the working hours.
They argued that adoption of a different time zone might be a long-drawn process.
"We welcome the chief minister's proposal of a local time as we along with several others were campaigning for more daylight working hours as prevalent in the tea gardens till the early 1990s and which continue in the oil industry here even now", North East Tea Association's (NETA) Chairman Bidyanand Barkakoty told PTI.
As a first step, the state government can advance the working schedules of all offices, financial institutions and organisations as this will go a long way in increasing productivity and lead to overall development of the state.
"The state government is in a position to change the working hours and should do it with immediate effect but adopting a separate time zone can be done only by the centre which the state government must continue to pursue," he said.
The chief minister had said in an interaction with the media on January one that he was trying to introduce the local time which is an hour ahead of the Indian Standard Time (IST).
"The introduction of the local time would lead to energy saving and more work can be done," Gogoi said.
The proposal was in accordance with the Centre's establishment of a four-member committee under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2001 to examine the need for multiple time zones and daylight saving.
Noted Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Baruah along with Barkakoty and other prominent citizens have been campaigning for a different time zone for several years and had even submitted a proposal to the centre in this regard "but nothing has materialised so far".
