Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 8

Heavy rush was witnessed outside examination centres in the district as many aspirants appeared for the patwari exam on Sunday.

Centres were designated at the CT Group of Institutions, Apeejay College, Police DAV School, SD College, among many other centres. A candidate’s father from Amritsar, said, “We arrived early in the morning. There is no arrangement for water. It is hot and we are in a dire straits.”

Surinder Singh, who came from Dera Bassi, said, “We started from our home at 5.30 am but here we are greeted with utter mismanagement. There is no proper arrangements and there is a huge rush. For a candidate from Dera Bassi, one would hope a centre closer to home. People from Amritsar, Dera Bassi, and Jalandhar are all at the same place. Especially, for girls it is very difficult. Those coming from so far don’t have a place to sit, there are no proper toilet arrangements and no water.”

Another candidate said while 11 am had been pegged as the time for exam, examinees were not let in until 12 pm. They also said there was no place to keep their belongings as nothing was allowed inside the examination room.

Huge traffic jams were also witnessed outside many of the centres after the exams.

Jashanpreet from Amritsar, said, “There’s a rush and its too hot. No sanitisers. There is no Covid protocol. AT least they could have ensured water.”

Gursharan from Amritsar whose daughter was appearing for the exam said, “There is no place to keep our stuff. Be it bus stand or exam centre, we had to find our way ourselves. An outsider doesn’t know the exact place to find the centre. It was difficult and we had to ask around with auto rickshaw wallahs.”