BENGALURU/KALABURAGI: Over 500 students from Bengaluru and neighbouring cities heading to various centres in Kalaburagi to write the exam for the post of Assistant Engineer with the Public Works Department, conducted by the Karnataka State Public Service Commission (KPSC), were left in enormous distress due to unexpected delays in construction work by the South Western Railway Zone wing.
Candidates on board two trains -- Hassan-Solapur via Yesvantpur and Udyan Express -- were in agony as they were stuck inside the train when their first paper began in the morning. Candidates on the Solapur train (No. 11302) pulled the chain at two points -- Mantralaya Road Station, and mid-track, about 2km from Raichur. Later, at Raichur station, they blocked the train completely, squatted on tracks and chanted slogans against the KPSC, Railways and called up VIPs, besides unleashing a social media storm tagging the Railway Minister, Chief Minister and others, to get a chance to write the exam.
KPCC spokesperson Priyank Kharge tweeted about it and people drew the attention of KPSC. The KPSC, in a notification late afternoon, urged candidates to take up the second exam which the candidates finally did, and called off their protest and boarded the train at Raichur. With the Railway Safety Commissioner scheduled to inspect the electrified doubling work between Devarapelle and Hindupur on Wednesday, and work still not complete, the constructions division went for unscheduled blockage of the route, creating massive delays for trains enroute.
According to Chief Public Relations Officer, SWR, E Vijaya, a mega block of 10 hours was planned in Hindupur yard, starting 10.15am. “A majority of the activities were completed smoothly, but towards the end, unexpected technical issues cropped up and caused an extension of planned block and bunching of trains from Bengaluru/Yesvantpur to Dharmavaram. As a result, trains were delayed,” she said.
According to Kalyana Karnataka Railway Development member Santhosh Honnalkar, “The train left Yesvantpur station at its scheduled time of 8.50pm on Monday, and reached Yelahanka at 9.10pm and was detained there for over two hours. It proceeded slowly as there were many trains ahead, and when it reached Raichur by 9am, the candidates realised they wouldn’t reach their exam centres in Kalaburagi, and began protesting.” The Solapur train finally left Raichur and arrived at Kalaburagi at 1.20pm, instead of 6am, while the Udyan Express reached at 12.50pm instead of 8.47am.
DECISION ON EXAM TODAY
KPSC Secretary G Satyavati said, “As per our count, 552 candidates could not take up the morning exam out of a total of 50,700 candidates who had applied for Assistant Engineer post in four divisions in the state. The Commission will meet, possibly even tomorrow (Wednesday), and take a decision about the exam.