Darjeeling Hills: Heaters bring comfort to exam centres

Darjeeling: Heaters brought much-needed relief to candidates appearing for the Madhyamik examinations across the Darjeeling Hills as minimum temperatures hovered around 4°C.

Every year, demands are raised to reschedule examination timings due to the cold climatic conditions. “This time, when the issue came to the notice of the District Magistrate, he decided that heaters would be provided in the Madhyamik examination centres in the Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-divisions... Accordingly, the administration provided funds,” Richard Lepcha, Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), told Millennium Post.

According to Anil Sharma, convenor of the Madhyamik Pariksha, 4,392 candidates — including 2,049 boys and 2,145 girls — are appearing at nine main centres and 24 sub-centres in the Darjeeling Hills. In Kalimpong district, 3,190 candidates, comprising 1,642 boys and 1,548 girls, are appearing at 16 centres. Meanwhile, the IMD Gangtok forecast that cold conditions would persist, though there is no likelihood of rain in the coming days.

“While the chill will continue, Wednesday and Thursday may remain partly cloudy,” said Gopinath Raha of the IMD.

On February 2, Darjeeling recorded a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius while Kalimpong recorded a minimum of 11 degrees Celsius.