The students appearing for medical entrance exam NEET 2019 scheduled on Sunday, 5 May, have requested the Ministry of Human Resource Development to change the date of examination in the wake of Category 4 Cyclone Fani.
The cyclone made landfall in Puri, Odisha on 3 May. Heavy rains hit several areas in Puri and other places. Apart from advising people to stay at their homes, the state government has closed down all shops, private and government offices, business establishments in 11 coastal districts of Odisha.
Catch all the live updates on Cyclone Fani here.
Various students took to Twitter to express their difficulty in reaching the exam centres due to cancellation of trains and flights.
Previously, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had released a notice on 2 May stating a change in NEET exam centres for various states due to the 2019 Lok Sabha Election and other unavoidable reasons.
WHAT ALL HAS BEEN AFFECTED?
The cyclone has affected the operation of several flights and trains. No flight will be operational at Kolkata airport between 3 pm on 3 May and 8 am on 4 May. Indigo issued an advisory stating that flights to and from Bhubaneswar have been cancelled for 3 May.
As per the NFR Chief Relations Officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma, six specified trains have been cancelled between 2 May and 7 May, IANS reported.
The cancelled trains include Silchar-Thiruvananthapuram Central Express, Tambaram- Dibrugarh Express, Guwahati-Secunderabad Express, Secunderabad-Guwahati Express, Thiruvananthapuram Central-Silchar Express and the Dibrugarh-Tambaram Express.
The South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) will run around 50 buses from Digha on 3 May so that the stranded tourists at Digha can be evacuated, reported ANI.
These buses will be functional at an interval of half an hour or lesser starting from 5 am on 3 May. If required, fifteen more buses will be available and deployed.
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