All hell broke loose in Bengal on Sunday even as record 45 lakh aspirants appeared for primary teachers’ eligibility examination, more commonly called TET exposing not only the appalling job scenario in the State but also a hopelessly inadequate infrastructure manned by an equally inept administrative machinery.
While thousands of candidates failed to appear for the tests on account of wrong address of the examination centres mentioned on the admit cards, lakhs of others reached their centres almost an hour late — owing to awfully inadequate transport — often crammed inside pick-up vans like herds of cattle.
At least half a dozen of those who were not so lucky fell off local trains and ended up in hospitals — grievously injured and fighting for their lives — instead of the exam centres.
About 35,000 posts are up for the grabs for which the exams were held on Sunday barely a few months ahead of the ensuing panchayat elections.
What added to the worries of the aspirants was a knee-jerk decision by the Government allowing candidates who came five minutes before the end of the exams to appear for their papers prompting the Opposition to wonder as to “how the Government can allow such irregularity in a recruitment examination.”
Even as the Government traded charges with Opposition Congress and the left for sabotaging the huge exercise at many places in Murshidabad, two 24 Parganas and Malda aspirants ransacked exam centres and railway stations in many places like in Behrampore, Baruipur where they fought pitched battle with the police.
While State Transport Minister Madan Mitra said most vehicles plied normally, Chairman Primary Education Board, Manik Bhattacharya blamed it on the long jams at the Railway crossings.
“Railway gates were unnecessarily closed for hours together and you all know who runs the Railways,” he said apparently blaming Junior Railway Minister and Mamata Banerjee baiter Adhir Chowdhury for the mess.
Meanwhile, smacking an opportunity to make it a political issue, the left Front called for a State-wide agitation to protest against the Sunday’s mismanagement putting the careers of lakhs of aspirants at risk.
“We had welcomed the Government move to create job when the State is seeing massive flight of capital, thanks to the faulty industrial policy of the Government, but we also condemn its dirty ploy to extract cheap political points before the rural elections by holding such a huge examination when there is hardly any infrastructure for this” said former Marxist MP Samik lahiri.
The left youth and students’ wings would blockade the primary education board offices in all districts on Monday, the Front leadership said.