Thousands protest as Rly recruitment exam dates clash with polls

Thousands of job aspirants on Monday staged a demonstration outside the office of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) on RG Kar Road demanding change in schedule of their written examination that coincided with the election dates in West Bengal.

The board has urged the job aspirants to give an application if they cannot go to other states to appear for the examination. As per their application the new dates for the examination will be announced after May.

On Monday morning thousands of job aspirants gathered outside the office of the recruitment board and shouted slogans demanding a change in the schedule. The agitation that started in morning continued till 2 pm.

The examination is scheduled to take place on different dates from the end of March to May. Around 92 lakh youth are appearing for the examination from across the country. 

There are around 7 lakh applicants from West Bengal. Most of the job aspirants are to sit for the examinations on April 4, 11 and 30 and there are Assembly elections on all the three dates in West Bengal.

Moreover, most of the candidates also have to go to places like Noida and Kanpur to appear for the examination. 

Thus the job aspirants approached the board to reschedule their examination or to let them appear for the five examinations in the state.

As it is not possible to reschedule the all India based examination, those having trouble in appearing for the examination on the scheduled dates should make an application to the board. 

The date of examination for these job aspirants will be announced after May.

After receiving information, an agitation was going on outside the office of RRB. Policemen from the nearest police station rushed to the spot and took necessary steps so that it doesn’t lead to traffic congestion on RG Kar Road.