Harish Swami, a native of Sarpavaram village of Rolugunta mandal in the Agency area of the district, had to take to the pedal as early as 7 a.m. to reach Rolugunta located 8 km away and then board a private bus to arrive at Government Polytechnic College in Visakhapatnam to appear for the medical stream of AP Eamcet on Friday.
Had it not been for the strike, Swami would have boarded a RTC bus in his village and reached the examination centre directly by 12 noon.
Despite the government putting its best efforts by engaging private operators, students from the rural parts, especially the Agency areas, had to face a lot of hardship because of the RTC strike. Like Harish, there were a number of students who had to walk or pedal to their respective mandal headquarters in order to board a private bus arranged by the government.
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The worst-hit were those who took the engineering stream of the test scheduled from 10 a.m.
D. Ramu, who hails from an interior part of Chintapalli, had to move to Narsipatnam on Thursday itself and spend the night at a bus shelter to take the free bus service arranged by a private engineering college in the morning.
“I was lucky to reach in time,” he said.
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“Last minute preparations play a vital role. We have been worrying how to reach the exam centres since Thursday. Many of us do not know what arrangements have been made by the government,” said Harish.
That eight to nine buses have been left unutilised at Payakaraopet proves this point.