New Delhi, Sept. 2 (PTI): A group of scientists has suggested pushing Indian Standard Time by half-an-hour to six hours ahead of GMT, citing benefits like peak-load energy savings up to 16 per cent.

The suggestion avoids the risks associated with introducing two time zones, a proposal that has been rejected by the government.

“We propose advancing of the Indian Standard Time by half-an-hour to being six hours ahead of the Universal Coordinated Time,” scientists Dilip Ahuja and D.P. Sen Gupta said in Current Science.

Such an advance would give 30 minutes of extra daylight in the evenings when it would be useful to people.

The scientists have suggested advancing the IST from being the time at 82.5°E longitude (Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh) to 90°E longitude (Bengal-Assam border).

This would make the IST six hours ahead of GMT — or UTC — and make it the same as Bangladesh Standard Time.

The scientists said percentage savings in evening peak energy would be 16 per cent, the money value of which would be about Rs 1,000 crore a year.

“Weighing the potential benefits from this proposal against the possible demerits, the proposal needs to be examined by the government.”

The time shift would bring office timings in the Northeast more in line with the rest of the country and help mainstream the region, they said.

It would also bring the country in conformity with 95 per cent regions in the world that use integral hours, reduce traffic fatalities and injuries, cut street crime, cause fewer disruptions in sporting events because of poor light and increase outdoor activity and professional productivity.

The scientists said late winter sunrises, which would inconvenience those who have to send children to school in the fog and the dark, and opposition from the IT and BPO sectors were possible roadblocks their proposal could run into.

These objections could be circumvented or traded off with other advantages, they said.

Earlier, the proposal for separate time zones was considered by a committee set up by the department of science and technology.

The committee had observed that separate time zones did not provide any major advantage but posed difficulties in terms of timings for airlines, railways, radio and television.

It felt that a more prudent solution would be to advance work timings by an hour in the eastern states, which could be implemented through administrative instructions.