Publicity vehicles get in the way of exams

Blaring announcements from publicity vehicles of contesting candidates has become a nuisance for people in general and students appearing for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations in particular, in various parts of Karimnagar district.

The publicity vehicles, mostly auto-rickshaws fitted with cone-shaped speakers, cause sound pollution and disturb students preparing for SSC examinations.

A parent, Sampath, who dropped his daughter for her SSC examination at a centre in Bagathnagar, told

The Hindu that “the movement of publicity vehicles is a nuisance for students writing the examinations”. He said that he had informed the police authorities, but in vain.

A school correspondent said that although they had deployed personnel to regulate the movement of publicity vehicles in front of the examination centre, after crossing the centre, they were again playing announcements at high volume. He urged the authorities concerned to adopt a mechanism to check the movement of publicity vehicles.

An invigilator of an SSC examination centre said that the loudspeakers were going beyond the stipulated normsand causing disturbance .

However, a contesting candidate said that the publicity vehicles would be withdrawn in the towns on Friday evening with the curtains coming down on the campaigning for the civic polls.

But, it would remain a problem in rural areas with the Zilla Parishad elections and general elections drawing close.