More than 1,000 youth who went to a a railway recruitment board (RRB) examination centre in Selaiyur on Sunday got a jolt when they found that their names did not figure at the centre and they were to take the test in schools at Saidapet and Saligramam more than an hour away.
The RRB later announced that there would be a re-examnation for the affected candidates after the aspirants protested and blocked the Tambaram-Agarathen road.
The job aspirants from various parts of the state who reached the examination centre at the Bharat Institute of Science in Selaiyur were shocked to see that their roll numbers were not listed at the centre.
“Our hall ticket said that this was our centre. However, when we reached here this morning we were told that our centres were either in Saligramam or in Saidapet,” said M. Sasikumar of Tirunelveli, who was to take the examination for assistant loco pilot test at the Selaiyur centre, but was asked to go to Saligramam.
“We cannot now go there in time. By the time we reach the examination would be over,” said Sasikumar. The candidates who were denied entry into the hall barged into the halls in protest. They later tried to block roads.
Senior RRB officials rushed to the spot and pacified agitating youth.
“We will probe the reason behind the mix up. All the candidates who reached the Selaiyur centre will be allowed to write the re-examination, the date for which will be announced soon,” said a senior RRB official.
“Those who wrote the examination at this centre will be also allowed to write again because they were disturbed by other candidates. All of them will get travel allowance when they attend the next test. As many as 19,222 people were scheduled to appear at 37 centres on Sunday,” said the official.