Elangovan’s struggle to make it possible for his daughter to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) finally bore fruit as he managed to reach Ernakulam on Saturday after a gruelling nine-hour journey from Tiruchi.
At the Vyttila bus terminal cum mobility hub here, he said, “We had to take a private bus to Ernakulam as most of the trains were booked on account of the summer holidays. The last-minute decision to allot centres outside Tamil Nadu [for candidates from the State] affected us a lot,” said Mr. Elangovan.
He was among the hundreds of parents who had to accompany their children from places like Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Srirangam, Chennai etc. to Ernakulam after the Supreme Court rejected a petition requesting the examination centres to be placed in Tamil Nadu itself.
Reghu, a student from Madurai, said that he was worried about the return journey as the tickets were on waiting list.
Vimal, a volunteer of Anbodu Kochi, a group of social activists at the help desks, said about 100 parents and their children had turned up at the South railway station here by Saturday noon. “We helped many book accommodation in hotels near the exam centres,” he said.
Aslam, another volunteer, said that rooms in North Paravur and Piravom near here had been booked out early. Deepak, an employee of the Revenue Department who helped the aspirants at the help desk in Vyttila, said several parents were worried as they had no confirmed tickets for their return journey.
The district administration has made elaborate arrangements for the students and their parents at railway and bus stations in Ernakualm. Help desks were set up from 6 a.m. to guide them to hotels and examination centres.
District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla said that there are 58 examination centres in the district, of which 21 are in the rural limits.
Help desk number
The help desk contact number for NEET candidates is 9061518888. Police would check whether the taxi and autorickshaw drivers were charging exorbitant rates from the parents, he said.
As many as 33,160 candidates, including those from outside State, will appear for NEET at the 58 centres in Ernakulam.
