RRB NTPC: Railways reaches out to 2 lakh aspirants over exam protests

NEW DELHI: The Railways has begun its outreach programme to connect with aspirants who had taken to the streets to protest against irregularities in its NTPC and Level 1 exams and on Thursday reached out to about two lakh students, according to officials.

Protests broke out in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh against the Railway Recruitment Boards’ Non-Technical Popular Categories exam of 2021. Railways had to suspend the exams due to the protests and formed a committee to look into the grievances.

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On Thursday, the Railways said it has received 1,40,440 concerns on their web programme -- iroams.com/outreach, while 46,980 grievances were received via email. Around 9,861 camps were held across zones by the Railway Recruitment Boards, which included personal interaction/email and paper submissions, it said. The deadline to raise objections ends on February 16, 2022. The committee after examining these concerns will submit their recommendations by March 4.

The candidates are opposing the Railways’ decision to hold the exam in two stages, claiming the second stage for final selection tantamount to “cheating” those who appeared and cleared the first stage of the Railways’ Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) for computer-based test released on January 15.

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Around 1.25 crore candidates had applied for the exams that had advertised over 35,000 posts from levels 2 to 6. It is being alleged that the exam is designed to favour those with a higher qualification, even for jobs that require lesser qualification.