Bangladesh clocks will strike New Year after an extra hour
By IANSThursday, December 31, 2009
DHAKA - The government has decided to restore Bangladesh standard time (BST) at midnight after Daylight Saving Time (DST) was introduced June 19 this year.
A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided that the clocks will be pushed back to 10:59 p.m. from 11:59 p.m. to set the GMT plus 6 hours timing. That means clocks will strike midnight after an extra hour.
She also directed the authorities concerned to take all measures so that people do not suffer due to the time change, The Daily Star said Thursday.
The cabinet had Dec 24 also decided to keep the BST until March 31 next year. On that day, the clock would be put forward again by an hour from 11:59 p.m. as part of daylight saving measures and will continue till 11:59 p.m. Oct 31.
Joining several nations across the globe, Dhaka experimented with DST to save power.
The government has since claimed that 200 MW of electricity was saved as a result of this measure.
Bangladesh is short on energy and is in the process of purchasing power from neighbour India. The cabinet also approved an in-principle memorandum of understanding for this.
Sources said Bangladesh Biman and Bangladesh Railway have already taken necessary measures so that people do not face any problems due to the time change, the newspaper said.
