Peeved over denial of facility to appear for the written examination for a job in the Home Department (Prisons), angry aspirants resorted to violence and damaged a government vehicle here on Tuesday, police said.
About 1,400 candidates had qualified for the written test for recruitment to 85 posts of warders under 12 jails in Baripada circle spread over four districts - Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Balasore.
The examination was to be held here at reserve police ground but due to inclement weather, jail authorities shifted the venue to Baripada College at Bhanjapur and accordingly informed the candidates, Superintendent the Circle Jail, Baripada, Prakash Chandra Sahu said.
On being informed by the college Principal, Anupama Nanda, that the institution had facility to accommodate only 400 students, the jail authorities suggested that furniture from the examination hall be removed and candidates would appear the examination sitting on the floor. They also informed the students that the examination would start at 3 pm, he said.
However, the authorities were caught off guard before the commencement of the test as the number of candidates who turned up was over 3,000 against the 1,400 who had qualified. Besides, the college had only one entrance and sufficient staff was not deployed to identify the qualified students for written test which led to a chaotic situation.
Even as the authorities were busy finding a solution to the imbroglio, the aspirants went berserk and resorted to stone pelting and damaged the official vehicle of the DIG of Prisons
KB Nayak. The jail authorities declared the written test for the day cancelled and a new date would be announced later.