Elangovan’s struggle to make it possible for his daughter to appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) seemed to finally bear fruit, as he managed to reach Ernakulam on Saturday afternoon after a gruelling nine-hour journey from Tiruchi.
Heaving a sigh of relief on reaching the Vyttila bus terminal-cum-mobility hub here, he said, “We had no other option but to take a private bus to Ernakulam, as most of the trains were fully booked on account of the summer holidays. The last-minute decision to allot a centre 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 all the way to Ernakulam from places as far away as Tiruchi, Coimbatore, Salem, Srirangam and Chennai, after the Supreme Court rejected a petition requesting that the examination centres be allotted within the State.
The last-minute change put parents and students in a fix, as many were unable to get confirmed train tickets to reach the examination centres in the neighbouring State.
Raghu, a student from Madurai, said he was worried about the return journey as his ticket was under the waiting list.
Vimal, a volunteer of Anbodu Kochi — a group of social activists which had set up help desks for affected candidates, said around 100 parents and their wards turned up at the South Railway Station in Ernakulam by Saturday noon. “We were able to help many [of them] to book accommodation in hotels close to the examination centres,” he said.
Aslam, another volunteer, said rooms in places like North Paravur and Piravom were booked early in view of the unprecedented rush of students from Tamil Nadu.
Return journey woes
Deepak, who aided aspirants at the help desk in Vyttila, said many parents were worried as they had no confirmed tickets for their return journeys.
The district administration had made elaborate arrangements for the welfare of the students and their parents from Tamil Nadu at various railway and bus stations in Ernakulam. Help desks were set up at various points to guide them to hotels and examination centres. District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla said there were 58 examination centres in the district, of which 21 were in rural areas. Volunteers at the help desks would guide candidates to hotels and provide directions to reach the exam centres. The help desk contact number for NEET candidates is 9061518888.
Around 33,160 candidates, including outstation ones, are expected to appear for NEET at 58 centres in Ernakulam. Though there has been no official confirmation, estimates suggest that around 4,000 students from other States were allotted centres in the district.
