The civil service preliminary examination of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) held in Tiruchi for the first time on Sunday.
The students, who had so far been visiting Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore to write civil service examinations, felt relieved to write the examinations in Tiruchi, which is considered as a central place in the State.
Besides Tiruchi, candidates from Karur, Namakkal, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and other delta districts appeared in the examinations. Many of the aspirants felt that inclusion of Tiruchi as UPSC examination centre had saved time and energy to a great extent.
“If we write the same examination in Chennai, we need to go to the city at least a day in advance. It would cost huge sum. Now, we have written the examination in our city itself,” said an aspirant from Thillai Nagar. However, many aspirants from other districts were found it difficult to reach their respective centres on time.
“Though I left for Tiruchi at 6.30 am by a bus I could not make it to the examination centre due to difficulty in finding the centre,” said Abirami of Thuraiyur in Tiruchi district, who was denied entry to the examination centre at St. John’s Vestry Anglo Indian School.
Jamal Mohamed College, Kurinji College of Arts and Science, Government Law College, St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, National College, Bishop Heber Higher Secondary School, Puthur, E.R. Higher Secondary School, Vasavi Vidyalaya, Arockiyamatha Matriculation School, Methodist Girls Higher Secondary School, and Cauvery Matriculation Higher Secondary School were the other centres.
However, more than 50 per cent of candidates did not appear in the examinations.
Out of 3,917 candidates, just 1,935 wrote the examination held in the morning. In the afternoon session, 1920 candidate appeared.
Collector K.S. Palanisamy visited various centres and checked the facilities made at the centres.
