A National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) candidate from Bihar was denied entry at an exam centre in Salt Lake, Kolkata on Sunday, 13 September, as he was late by 10 minutes.
According to Hindustan Times, Santosh Kumar Yadav, a resident of Bihar’s Darbhanga, had travelled 700 kilometres and changed three buses to reach the exam centre. However, he arrived at 1.40 pm instead of the stipulated 1.30 pm, which cost him an entire year.
“I pleaded the authorities, but they said I was late. The examination started at 2 pm. I reached the centre around 1.40 pm. The last deadline for entering the centre was 1.30 pm.”Santosh Kumar Yadav, NEET Aspirant
Candidates appearing for NEET were asked to report well ahead of the scheduled time. At some centres, students were called in as early as 11 am for an exam which began at 2 pm.
For Yadav, however, reaching on time proved to be a real challenge. He had boarded a bus from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur at 8 am on Saturday, 12 September. To reach state capital Patna, Yadav took another bus from Muzaffarpur, which was delayed by almost six hours due to traffic snarls.
“I took another bus from Patna at 9 pm. The bus dropped me near Sealdah station (in Kolkata) at 1.06 pm. A taxi brought me to the examination centre.”Santosh Kumar Yadav, NEET Aspirant
Students Miss Exam Due to Centre Relocation
At least six students missed exams in Maharashtra’s Nashik district after travelling to the wrong exam centre, The Times of India reported.
Rahul Aher, a resident of Jalgaon Chondi village near Malegaon, took his sister on a scooter to the examination centre in Satana about 50 km away from home only realise that the exam centre had been relocated.
On 10 September, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had said that exam centres of some candidates had been changed due to implementation of COVID-19 measures.
“The concerned candidates have already been informed by NTA through SMS and email. They are also being informed telephonically,” the NTA had said in a statement.
The NTA had around 44 exam centres in Nashik, where around 16,000 students were to take the NEET. Whereas, 102 students from the Satana centre and 240 students from the Igatpuri centre had been relocated.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and The Times of India)
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