UP train stations and bus stands witnessed massive overcrowding
Several bus depots and railway stations across Uttar Pradesh witnessed chaos on Friday and Saturday nights as candidates for a major state government services recruitment examination travelled to their exam centres and back.
The UP Subordinate Services Selection Commission's Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) is a qualifying examination where a score enables a candidate to appear in future recruitment exams for Group C government jobs in the state.
More than 35 lakh candidates from across the state had registered for the two-day exams this year that conclude today.
Visuals shot on Saturday night at the Jhansi Railway Station in southern UP showed platforms packed with candidates desperately trying to board trains. Visuals shot by journalists from inside train compartments showed barely any space to stand.
Similar visuals were taken by journalists at Hapur Railway Station in western UP, where some candidates were filmed making a dash for trains already in motion.
At Kanpur's Charbagh Railway Station, many candidates returning from their exam centres told NDTV that due to overcrowding on trains, at railway stations and bus stops, they had to face immense difficulty in reaching the exam centres
"I caught a train at 1am from Prayagraj and reached here at 6am. There were no special trains, no arrangements," 22-year-old Prabhat Verma, whose exam centre was in Lucknow, told NDTV.
Ravi Kumar Maurya, who had travelled from Amethi to Lucknow, said the government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had not made adequate arrangements. "Why were exam centres allotted so far away? And if that was the case, why were adequate arrangements not made," Mr Maurya told NDTV.
UP Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh spoke to the candidates at Bareilly bus stand today, promising to provide enough buses once the exams conclude today evening.
Several opposition leaders have tweeted videos and photos, saying that the UP government was responsible for the chaos and the hardships faced by the candidates.
The government has claimed that many of the videos circulating on social media and being tweeted by opposition leaders are fake and that extra trains and buses are being arranged for the examinees.