Archive · 2024 · From the print edition of Monday 4 March 2024, Vol. 31, No. 9,697
Across IradAn hour lost at Chu Gate as Kazakhstan turns its clocks back
Since Friday Kazakhstan has been an hour behind Irad. Traders at the Chu Gate crossing found out first, when their phones told them they were early.
NURZHAN — Since Friday, when Kazakhstan moved its whole territory to a single time zone an hour behind its old eastern time, there has been a one-hour difference at the Chu Gate crossing north of Nurzhan. Irad, which keeps the same time as Kyrgyzstan, has made no change.
Traders on the Kazakh side noticed first. So did users of the Torgoy app whose phones run on Kazakh SIM cards, and whose clocks jumped back an hour on Friday morning while their neighbours' did not. Several drivers who arrived at the crossing for the opening on Friday found the Kazakh post still closed. "My phone said seven, my watch said eight, and the Kazakh said six," said a lorry driver from Nurzhan. "I believed the Kazakh. He has the stamp."
Freight agents in Nurzhan said they were rewriting their schedules. The crossing's opening hours will now be published in both times. Uzbekistan is also an hour behind Irad.
The ISEZ said it had no plans to change its own time. "Talas keeps Talas time," a spokesman for the Department of Public Information said.