The examination for the recruitment of Village Revenue Officers (VROs) on Sunday led to a controversy with officials asking women candidates to take off their ‘mangalsutras’ before entering the exam hall as part of measures taken to check malpractice.
Despite protests at several centres in Medak, Mahabubnagar and Karimnagar districts, officials refused the entry of aspirants wearing mangalsutras. They were asked to deposit them with those accompanying them. At several places, husbands and relatives of the candidates were seen holding on to the chains as the latter wrote the exam, said Akhil Bharatiya Viduarthi Parishad (ABVP) members.
The ABVP condemned the officials’ attitude, terming it ‘insensitive and anti-Hindu’. ABVP-Telangana secretary L. Ayyappa said the TSPSC Chairman should be held responsible for hurting the sentiments of Hindu women and demanded action against the officials responsible for the act.
The VRO exam held on Sunday for 700 posts saw about 10.58 lakh candidates registering their names — the highest ever received for the exam conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC). About three lakh among those appeared in Hyderabad and surrounding areas under the HMDA limit.
Officials had earlier instructed the candidates not to wear shoes, jewellery, chains, studs and watches to the exam centres.
Tense scenes
Tension prevailed at Narsapur for some time on Sunday when some BJP activists staged dharna outside a centre where the exam for recruitment of VROs was being held. Sources said an official at Little Flower School forced women candidates to remove their mangalasutrams and mettelu stating that the Collector has ordered against allowing any candidate with gold ornaments. On learning about this, BJP leader Ramesh, his party colleagues and relatives of the candidates held a dharna outside the centre. It was only after Joint Collector Nagesh intervened and promised an inquiry, that the agitators dispersed.
Peaceful elsewhere
The written exam for VRO posts was conducted peacefully at 186 centres in various parts of Karimnagar district on Sunday. Of 70,907 applicants, 57,391 appeared the exam, recording 81% attendance.
Given the arrival of candidates in hordes, the town saw huge rush with traffic moving at a snail’s pace. The RTC bus station complex was packed and shortage of buses caused problems for quite a few candidates in reaching their exam centres.
In Rajanna-Sircilla district, the attendance was 71.7% for the VRO examination conducted in 56 centres. Against a total of 18,246 candidates who had applied, 13,074 appeared. Joint Collector Yasmeen Basha inspected the centres and supervised the conduct of examination.
In the formerly undivided Adilabad district, too, exam for VRO posts passed off smoothly with top officials monitoring the conduct.
In Adilabad town, 17,655 out of a total 22,428 registered candidates appeared for the exam, the percentage being 78.7. The percentage of attendance in Nirmal district was 72.16 while that in Mancherial was 58.77.
