F&ES aspirants protest postponement of exam

Police use force to disperse agitating candidates

Thousands of aspirants  appearing for written test for hundred odd posts in Fire and Emergency Service Department held protests against authorities for postponment of the exam at Jammu and here today.
 Around 14,000 candidates were called for written test at the Indoor Stadium complex, but due to shortage of space, things went out of control. 
 Candidates got infuriated when it was announced that scheduled test couldn’t be conducted today. “This is a cruel joke. You (officials) are making fun of our unemployment,” shouted agitated candidates and went on protest demonstration.
 “The aspirants had started gathering outside the venue from early morning and till 10:30 a.m. the candidates from all the districts had reached the spot,” said eye witnesses. 
 They added that police could not manage allowing huge number of the candidates to enter venue one by one resulting in the mess.
 The police swung into action and cane charged the candidates. The candidates were dispersed and later authorities cancelled the test.
 Director General, F&E Services, Dr G A Bhat said  only 14000 candidates who had qualified for today’s test, were invited. “We witnessed more than 30000 candidates. It included those who had failed to qualify earlier tests. They threw stones at staff and the situation turned volatile,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 “To avoid any untoward incident, officials decided to postpone the tests,” he added.
 He assured that the test would be conducted shortly.
 Meanwhile, scores of youth sustained injuries today when police resorted to cane charge on protesters who were demonstrating against Fire and Emergency department for postponing scheduled written exam.
 Officials said that the exam was postponed after chaotic scenes were witnessed in the examination hall as the students who had not qualified for written exam also insisted to sit in the exam. 
 “As the situation went out of control due to forcible entry of the unqualified students inside the exam hall the authorities were compelled to postpone the exam,” the eyewitnesses said.
  They said that in Jammu region only 4000 students had qualified for written exam out of total 7000 but the invigilators were surprised to see about 6000 candidates turning up to appear in t he test. 
 Annoyed over the decision of authorities, the aspirants took to the roads and blocked the busiest Tawi Bridge at Bikram Chowk thus bringing the city traffic to a standstill.   
  Despite assurance by Deputy Commissioner Jammu A K Sahu and SSP Jammu Uttam Kumar, the protestors refused to disperse and continue protest demonstration for about an hour. 
  Around 7000 aspirants from across the Jammu region had applied for 140 posts created by the Jammu and Kashmir Fire and Emergency Services.