Agartala:At a time when Parliament rejected the proposal of separate time zone for eastern India, civil society organisations and intellectuals of Tripura have demanded introduction of local standard time (LST) for own functioning of the state.
Participating in a discus-sion on LST organised by Agartala Cycle Club (ACC) with the luminaries last evening, CPI(M) MP in Lok Sabha Jitendra Choudhury advocated for advancing working hours in north-eastern states within three hours of sunrise and ending up at least an hour before sunset. He also pointed out that Tripura is losing most potential working hour following Indian standard time (IST), which is affecting work culture, efficiency in work and finally affecting state’s gross domestic products and development as a whole.
‘Even if reference point of IST doesn’t shift to eastern part of the country where sun rises first or separate time zone for eastern part doesn’t approve, at least for our own office functioning and work the state should have own timings to utilize total sun shine hours,’ Mr Choudhury explained.
“Eastern and northeastern parts of India have large amount of natural resources but in all respects we see that major develop-ment happened in western parts of the country, as they are using most potential part of the day, which may be one of reasons of being under development of the region ” he opined.
Appreciating the move for local standard time at regional level, an NRI and Bank of America Vice-President Saumen Sarkar said the US has four time zones but it took 109 years to convince the politicians.
“In case of India, if people demand separate time zones or any East Indian state begins functioning with local standard time without contradicting IST, certainly the government has to create separate time zones for equal develop-ment of the country,” Sarkar stated.
He added that Tripura has several instances of early inception of work at 0800 hrs in the schools and hospitals because it is established, performance of brain in the morning func-tions more than average and gives better output. So, it is not difficult to start all the schools at 0800 hrs in the morning and offices by 0900 hrs and finish it early.
“If students are back home by 1400 hrs, they can utilize the afternoon in games and sports and other healthy practices. Similarly, if employees start working early they can discharge efficiently and give better output. In the afternoon, if they get good leisure and a relaxed evening will boost their performance the next day,” opined Prof Amitava Debroy, Chairman of Tripura State Pollution Control Board.
Contemplating LST for Tripura, ACC president Dr Jayanta Roy stated that Agartala is ahead of at least 66 minutes in sunrise and 56 minutes in sunset compared to Delhi. And 65 minutes ahead of sunrise and 92 minutes ahead of sunset compared to Mumbai following IST.
As a result, Tripura is losing about 2-3 hours potential working hour daily, which is almost equal in every northeastern state, Dr Roy said adding that in Metros since work starts within two hours of sunrise, they join work by light breakfast and discharge efficiently.(UNI)
