BHOPAL: Memories of 51 people dying in a bus accident in Sidhi district still haunt people, but it seems that the state government has not learnt any lesson from the incident. Most of the passengers travelling in the ill-fated bus were going to appear in the ANM recruitment test in Satna.
A similar situation seems to be developing over the police constable recruitment test in which 12.16 lakh candidates will be appearing at exam centres located in only 16 districts, which has been decided by the Professional Examination Board (PEB).
This also means that the job aspirants will be flocking to these 16 districts from across the state. It will lead to additional pressure on trains and buses on the day the recruitment test is conducted.
“Most of the candidates come from a poor background and don’t have enough money to reach the exam centre a day before as it adds the expenses of staying in a hotel and buying food. The exam will start at 9 am and most of the candidates will catch the early morning bus to reach the exam centre,” said an official requesting anonymity.
This situation is quite similar to the one that happened during the Sidhi bus accident. There, too, the candidates had taken the early morning bus to reach the exam centre in time. The bus driver, too, was under pressure to reach the destination in time as most of the passengers were job aspirants.
A video went viral on social media platforms where one of the relatives of a deceased was asking the government why there was no examination centre in Sidhi. “Had there been a centre at Sidhi, my brother would’ve been alive today,” cried the relative.
Congress MLA Kamleshwar Patel and several others had raised the issue and demanded that such tests centres should be set up in every district. “I’d raised the issue of exam centres when the accident happened. I demand once again that the Shivraj government set up centres in all the districts for the police constable recruitment test to avoid any mishap,” said Patel.
The 16 exam centres
Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Neemuch, Ratlam, Mandsaur, Sagar, Satna, Khandwa, Guna, Damoh, Sidhi, Chhindwara and Balaghat
Test date changed
The recruitment test that was scheduled on March 6 has been postponed and now will be held on April 6.
