Instead of sitting with books, making last minute preparations for the mains examination of Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) to be held on Monday, hundreds of aspirants were seen protesting in front of the JPSC office on Sunday.
The candidates for 6th civil services mains examination of JPSC formed a human chain in front of the JPSC office, peacefully protesting and demanding cancellation of the upcoming examination and conducting the examinations afresh.
Santosh Kumar, who is appearing for JPSC civil services examination for the second time said, “There have been a lot of disparities this year. Since its conception the commission has brought nothing but shame to the state due to constant corruption and lack of transparency.”
Pointing out a major discrepancy in the system, Kumar said, “The number of students who cleared prelims and filled the form for mains examination was 27,000 but admit cards were issued to 34,000 candidates. How is this even possible?”
Another candidate, Sangam Mishra said that there are 18 such people who are working as assistants at the JPSC office, scrutinizing the entire process while appearing in the examination themselves.
He further said, “The son of former secretary Jagjit Singh was is also appearing for the examination and the secretary did not inform the commission about it. A few days, ago the secretary was replaced by the government in a bid to clear out the matter but obviously the question papers are already printed so there is not point removing him now.”
After protesting for a few hours, a delegation of candidates went to meet the officials at JPSC but after an hour long discussion, no conclusion was reached.
Anil Kumar, who was a part of the delegation said, “We spoke to the officials and they said they will call us again to give a final decision but we never got called back. Our only demand is to cancel this entire examination and restart the process again.”
Kumar said that if the JPSC does not accept their demands, a number of aspirants would not be sitting in the examination on Monday.
“We are around 5,000 people, are more are likely to join us, who would not sit in the examination on Monday. We won’t stop those who are willing to write the examination but many of us would boycott the examination to show our protest,” he said.
The candidates plan to protest near Vidhan Sabha during the assembly session on Monday.
Meanwhile, the district administration is all set to ensure that no untoward incidents occur during the examination on Monday.
Deputy development commissioner of Ranchi Divyanshu Jha said, “The examinations are to be held at 57 centres in the city and we will have 57 static teams and 21 patrolling team to supervise all the areas. SP city and SP rural will also be on a move to keep a vigil.”
He added, “We have directed the magistrates and the forces to ensure that those who are willing to write the examination are not stopped by anyone.
We do not have any problem with peaceful protest but we will be prepared to deal with any unforeseen law and order situation as well.”