It is due to the efforts of the Indian Ex-Service league (IESl), Odisha Branch that the Indian Air Force (IAF), for the first time, has selected Bhubaneswar as one of the centres for the Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) scheduled on August 4 this year.
This would be a big help to at least 2,500 young people in Odisha to sit for the examination in their home State.The IAF’s decision followed a request by IESl, Odisha Branch general secretary Bidyadhar Nayak in a letter to Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on January 21 this year.Nayak had requested the IAF chief to consider the case of the Odia candidates who are facing inconvenience in appearing at the examination in Kolkata and Hyderabad and take steps to open a centre in Bhubaneswar to help them appear at the examination in their home State.
“Since UPSC and SSC are conducting their examinations in various cities in Odisha, the AFCAT examination can be held in any place in the State,” he had pointed out.Earlier, in a letter to IESl, Odisha on January 22, the authorities of the AFCAT Cell had requested the former to suggest a viable place and consent of the concerned organisation to conduct the examination in a professional manner for at least 2,000 examinees in one shift.