Hyderabad, Aug 10 (IANS): Hundreds of candidates on Thursday staged a protest at the office of the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC), demanding that the Group-II recruitment exam be postponed.
Traffic on the busy road in Nampally came to a halt as more than 1,000 candidates took out a rally and sat in protest in front of the TSPSC office.
Raising slogans and holding placards, the protesters demanded that the examination scheduled on August 29 and 30 be postponed. Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president Kodandaram and Congress leader Addanki Dayakar extended support by sitting on road with the protesters.
The massive protest took police by surprise. Additional police personnel reached the area and stopped some protesters heading towards the TSPSC office. The police later allowed the protesters to stage sit-in at a nearby ground.
Some student leaders went in to TSPSC office and submitted a representation to the TSPSC secretary. The official said the Commission will respond to their demand in two days. However, the candidates refused to leave the place unless they get a clear assurance on their demand.
The candidates said they are unable to appear in two exams in a month. Gurukul Board exams are being conducted from August 1 to August 23. Since the syllabus for both the exams is different, the candidates say that they don't have sufficient time to prepare for the Group-II exam.
The candidates also say that the syllabus for Group-II third paper (economics) was increased by 70 per cent, further adding to the burden of studies. Stating that they were unable to prepare for the exams for the last three months due to paper leakage that rocked TSPSC, the candidates demanded that the exams be postponed for at least three months. TJS president Kodandaram said the TSPSC should postpone the exam to give sufficient time to the candidates for preparation.
NSUI state president Balmuri Venkat wondered why the government wanted to conduct the exam in a hurry. He said when the government did not conduct the exams for seven years, it can wait for another three months.
The TSPSC had notified 783 Group–II posts for which a total of 5,51,943 candidates have applied.