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NEET 2020: Aspirants from Uttarakhand’s hilly regions travel a day in advance for exam
NEET 2020: Many students travelled overnight to reach the exam centres on time as every student had been given a particular time slot to enter.
NEET 2020: As students appear for National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday, many aspirants from remote hilly regions in Uttarakhand travelled a day in advance to reach their exam centres on time.
Sunil Kumar, a 22-year-old student from Kalagarh in Uttar Pradesh who had his exam centre in Haldwani in Nainital district said “I left my house on Saturday morning around 7 AM. I changed two modes of transport at four different places to reach Kashipur first around 3 pm on Saturday. Earlier it used to cost Rs 60 from my hometown to reach Kashipur, but this time I had to around Rs 1000.”
He added that after reaching Kashipur, he took a bus to reach Haldwani around 6 pm on Saturday evening.
“I spent one full day travelling in different vehicles of roadways. I even got a Covid-19 test done at the border but did not receive a report yet (till entering the exam hall),” said Kumar.
Akshita Kharkwal, another 17-year-old aspirant who came from the bordering district of Pithoragarh said, “We had left Pithoragarh at 9:30 am on Saturday morning. We reached Rudrapur (US Nagar) around 8:30 pm, where we stayed at our relative’s house. From there I reached Haldwani around 9:40 am on Sunday to reach my exam centre. Even though we travelled in our own car, but the continuous travel of 10-11 hours was exhausting added with the panic of reaching safely without any trouble on the road.”
Many more students travelled overnight to reach the exam centres on time as every student had been given a particular time slot to enter.
Sapna Karki, a 17-year-old medical aspirant from Kharak Karki village in Champawat district also travelled for over 10 hours.
“We started from my village on Saturday afternoon and stayed in Tanakpur at night. On Sunday, we left from there at 5 am and reached Haldwani around 9 am. Examinees from hilly districts to have face many difficulties to reach exam centres in Haldwani. It is not just the numerous hours of travel, but we also have to keep our safety in mind while switching different modes of transport amid an epidemic,” she said.
Students from hilly areas near Mussoorie faced the same plight.
Shrishti Sonkar, a 20-year-old medical aspirant from Mussoorie said, “Fearing the roadblock due to recurring landslide on Mussoorie-Dehradun road we left five hours before the exam, so that we are able to reach the centre on time. We were fortunate to pass the landslide zone without any stoppages.”
Several aspirants who did not have their own vehicle pooled in together by taking shared taxis to their designated centres.
Sakshi Singh, another medical aspirant from Mussoorie said, “We are three students who decided to book a taxi a day earlier and reached the centre on time on Sunday.”
Exam on Sunday was conducted following all social distancing and safety guidelines as per the Central government.
Mohan Singh Matiyani, city coordinator for NEET (UG) in Roorkee said that the exam was conducted smoothly with 90% of the students appearing for the exam in the city.
“All norms of social distancing have been followed with 12 students seated in one room. Students were given different time slots from 11 am till 1:30 pm so that all safety norms like thermal scanning, sanitising, distribution of masks could be followed properly. All students were given fresh masks at the centre,” said Matiyani.
When asked if the temperature of any of the students was higher than normal, Matiyani said, “For such a situation, we have made arrangements for separate rooms, but we did not receive any such report till the exam started at 2 pm on Sunday.”
