Guwahati, Aug 21 (IANS): Mobile internet services were suspended for four hours on Sunday in 25 districts of Assam to prevent cheating during recruitment exams of nearly 30,000 Grade-III and IV posts of various government departments.

According to officials, besides the suspension of internet services, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPc were also been promulgated in and around the test centres, as per government orders.

The officials said that over 14.30 lakh candidates are expected to appear for nearly 30,000 Grade-III and IV posts, examinations for which are being conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) on August 21, August 28, and September 11.

While the selection test for the Grade-IV posts were held in two shifts on Sunday, tests for Grade-III posts will be held on August 28, and September 11.

Senior officials said that besides state-owned BSNL, the private telecom service providers also temporarily suspended their mobile internet services from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Besides deploying huge contintengent of security forces, the authorities had prohibited carrying of mobile phones (even in switched-off mode), electronic equipment or programmable devices or storage media devices such as smart watches, health bands, electronic pen, scanner, bluetooth devices, ear phones, microphones or any other devices either in working or switched off mode capable of being used as a communication device, calculator, pen drive etc., by the candidates.