The government is not putting back the clock by one hour from October 1, instead it continues the Daylight Saving Time (DST) measure till the cabinet makes a fresh decision.
The Daily Star Friday reported that the clock would go back an hour from October 1. But following the report, the power ministry yesterday said the clock will not be put back an hour till the cabinet reviews the DST measure and makes a fresh decision.
In June, the cabinet approved a proposal of the power ministry to put the clock an hour forward on June 18 as a way to conserve energy.
The original proposal was to keep the DST till September 30 and revert to GMT+6 on October 1. The DST was proposed to be implemented from April 1 next year again.
"However the cabinet only approved the decision to put the clock ahead by one hour. It had not given the decision to put the clock back to the traditional time from October," said a top power ministry source.
"We are expecting a decision in this regard after the prime minister returns home," the source said.
The DST measure has succeeded in reducing power demand of up to 200 megawatt during the peak hours between 7:00pm and 9:00pm during June and September.
PDB sources say that if the DST continues after October 1, it would not be able to reduce power demand as the sun presently sets more than an hour before it did in June. "Global practice shows that DST prevails for a certain period of time," said a PDB high official.