Eamcet aspirants were in for a harrowing time with traffic jams across the city threatening to rob them of a shot at the exam this year.
However, students were largely able to offset the delays, having set out two to three hours prior to the start of the exam. Eamcet officials had earlier warned that latecomers would not be permitted to attempt the exam.
Those who had their exam centres on the city outskirts, however, were greeted by clogged roads. The ongoing Metro Rail works were to blame for traffic moving at a snail’s pace at Tarnaka, L.B. Nagar, Malakpet, Kukatpally, Punjagutta, Begumpet and Gandipet.
Officials said around 25 students were not allowed inside the exam hall as they arrived late by a few minutes. However, the figure could be around 50 going by students’ claims.
Weekday exam
Parents questioned the conduct of the exam on a weekday, despite authorities being aware of the problems involved. The exam has been conducted on weekends since 2009, following a directive of the State Human Rights Commission to the effect. This year the exam was scheduled on a Friday as some other exams had been posted for weekends.
Tense moments
A Kukatpally centre witnessed tense moments when parents protested the entry of YSRC leader and MLC Jupudi Prabhakar into the exam centre. Mr. Prabhakar had come to the centre to drop his son, who was to attempt the exam. Meanwhile, officials said 95.18 per cent of registered students attended both the engineering and medical tests. In the engineering stream, out of the 2,91,085 registered candidates 2,77,068 appeared while in the medical stream 1,00,004 students appeared out of the 1,05,065 registered candidates.
