Candidates at Vadodara bus stand after the exam on Sunday. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)Nearly a month after it was cancelled following paper leak, the written examination for the recruitment of over 9,700 Lok Rakshak Dal (LRD) jawans in Gujarat Police was held peacefully on Sunday. As per preliminary estimate, out of the total around 8.75 lakh candidates who were to appear for the examination, 7.2 lakh took the test on Sunday.
Speaking with The Indian Express, chairman of Lok Rakshak Recruitment Board (LRRB) and Additional Director General of Police Vikas Sahay said, “The (written) examination has been concluded peacefully across the state. There were a couple of instances of two candidates caught with mobile phones in Ahmedabad and Rajkot. As per initial reports, out of the total around 8.75 lakh candidates who were to appear for the examination, around 7.2 lakh took the test today.”
Sahay added that he won’t be able to say when will the results be out.
After the written examination, the candidates are required to clear physical fitness test and then they get selected for the posts they had applied for. The examination was for filling 9,713 posts of Unarmed Lok Rakshak, Armed Lok Rakshak and Jail Sipai. LRD jawans get fixed wage employment of around Rs 19,000 per month for five years. After five years, they get into regular constabulary.
The examination was scheduled last month, on December 2. However, Sahay cancelled the examination hours before it was set to begin after realising that the question paper for the exam had been leaked. The development caused serious embarrassment to Gujarat Police and the state government.
Gandhinagar police have registered a case in this connection and investigation has revealed involvement of a Delhi-based gang. As many as 15 people were arrested from Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.
Later, the new date for examination — January 6 — was declared with additional steps taken to ensure fair examination. All the classrooms had CCTV cameras and each examination centre was allotted minimum 10 policemen.
The government had also declared free to-and-fro transport for the candidates in the buses of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC).
