34% candidates absent on Day 1 of PET exam across UP

LUCKNOW: About 34% candidates remained absent on the first day of the two-day Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) held at 1,899 centres across Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The examination, held in two shifts, was conducted by Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Staff Selection Commission (UPSSSC) for recruitment to group B and C posts in the state government jobs.
"Examination went off peacefully at all centres. No unpleasant incident was reported from any centre and eight solvers were caught by STF," said UPSSSC chairman Pravir Kumar. UPSSSC officials claimed that 100% transparency was ensured in the conduct of the examination which was monitored through the command rooms made at UPSSSC headquarters.
Stuffed in trains and buses, around 12.5 lakh candidates struggled to reach their examination centres amid huge crowd and limited means of public transport.
A total of 6,17,967 out of 9,39,553 candidates appeared for the examination in the first shift while 3,21,586 candidates were absent. In the second shift, 6,31,251 candidates out of 9,39,553 appeared while 3,08,302 remained absent.
"We were given centres far away from our hometowns. I came from Azamgarh to appear in Lucknow while my sister was given a centre in Varanasi. It was not possible for my parents to take both of us at two different centres, hence she had to drop out," said a candidate Anvita Bansal.\
Even those who had reserved railway tickets like me had to come standing in the train as the coaches were brimming with aspirants. To reach the exam centre timely, I came on Friday evening, slept at the platforms like several other students and struggled to reach the centres even within the city,” said Abhinay Narang of Ghazipur. Not only aspirants, the general public too faced commuting hassles. In the state capital, about 1.19 lakh candidates appeared at 106 centres. In the first shift, 42,522 out of 59,376 candidates appeared while 16854 remained absent.
In the second shift, 42,977 out of 60,072 aspirants appeared for the exam and 17,095 were absent. A UPSSSC official said, “The number of candidates is more than double as compared to last years hence the absenteeism percentage is somewhat same like previous years.” Lucknow district magistrate Suryapal Gangwar did a surprise inspection at Rajkiya Girls’ Inter College, Shamina Road, Rajkiya Hussainabad Inter College, Sunni Inter College in Turiyaganj and others.
The only thing that brought cheers on the faces of candidates was the easy question paper. “Overall exam was easy, it was only graph and current affairs that were a bit tough,” said a candidate Aparna Joshi. Another candidate Smita Verma said: “It was not a very tough exam, only a few questions from general knowledge and mathematics were tough.” A number of candidates from flood affected areas could not turn up. Mahendra Kumar Shukla, a resident of Tulsipur, said, “No transport facility is available in our district due to floods. My two friends could not come for the exam since our area is flooded.” Ankit Kumar Shukla of Balrampur said the examination should not be held during this period as many candidates from east UP districts like Gonda and Siddharthnagar could not come due to the flood situation.