Several candidates missed the Group-II recruitment exam conducted by the AP Public Service Commission on Saturday at JNTU-Kukatpally centre. This was after getting stuck in a traffic jam caused by the Chief Minister’s convoy. The exam was scheduled to between 2 pm and 4.30 pm. With the CM embarking upon a whirlwind tour of the city on Saturday, the traffic was stopped at Madhapur and Gachibowli to pave the way for the passage of the CM’s convoy. This caused a huge traffic jams.
Traffic police struggled to clear the snarl for over an hour, but by then several Group-II aspirants had missed the exam. Some students also missed the exam at other centres in the city due to traffic jams at several places caused by water-logging in the wake of incessant rains since Friday. The rules state that latecomers will not be allowed into the exam centres. The candidates were advised to reach the exam centres an hour in advance. “I started from Himayatnagar at 10 am. But I could not reach Kukatpally even till 2 pm. I was stuck in a traffic jam at Madhapur for over an hour. When I enquired, I was told that the traffic jam was caused by CM’'s convoy. So I missed the opportunity to appear for the Group-II exam,” said Ch. Srinivas, an aspirant.
The candidates said they had prepared for the Group-II test for nearly two years, and that now all their efforts had been wasted. Out of 5,47,985 students who registered for the exam in the state, 4,79,996 had downloaded hall tickets from the APPSC website. Of them, 3,77,346 have appeared for the test, recording an attendance of 76 per cent. However, the APPSC officials claimed that the attendance percentage was the highest, more than in the Group-II exams conducted during the last two years.