RRB NTPC results: Student unions call for ‘Bihar Bandh’ tomorrow

The job aspirants blocked the New Delhi-Kolkata main railway tracks and some others protested in Bihar's Arrah and Sharif Railway station. The protesters also allegedly set a train on fire in Arrah.

Students union body AISA in Bihar have called a statewide ‘bandh’ tomorrow in wake of the recently declared NTPC stage 1 exam results . Violence have broken out in many parts of the state after the announcement of the results.

AISA termed the committee formed by the Railway Ministry to look into the concerns raised by the aspirants of alleged irregularities in Railway Recruitment Board's NTPC stage 1 exam results as a "hoax", and refused to bog down despite the formation of the committee.

AISA General Secretary and MLA Sandeep Saurav along with others in a press statement said that the committee formed by the ministry is a "conspiracy" to postpone the matter till the elections in Uttar Pradesh.

"There is no doubt on the questions being raised by the candidates. This massive movement of student youth, who are facing extreme unemployment, has arisen at a time when there is an election in UP. Under the pressure of this, this proposal of the Government and Railways has come and a conspiracy is being hatched to postpone the matter till the elections," they said.

Earlier, the Railway Ministry formed a high-level committee, headed by Deepak Peter Gabriel, the principal executive director of industrial relations in the ministry, to examine the aspirants' grievances.

Bihar, home to a majority of the job aspirants, saw violent protests for the third day in a row. A crowd stormed the Gaya Junction and set on fire the Bhabhua-Patna InterCity Express. But nobody was injured.

East Central Railway CPRO Rajesh Kumar told PTI-Bhasha, "The rakes were empty and parked inside the yard when miscreants set a coach on fire. It has not resulted in disruption of rail traffic."

Vaishnaw urged the aspirants not to take the law into their hands and promised to "seriously address their grievances and concerns". He said all Railway Recruitment Board chairpersons have been asked to listen to the concerns of candidates and send them to the panel.

"An email address has been set up for this purpose. The panel will go to different parts of the country and listen to the grievances," he said.

The candidates are opposing the Railways' decision to hold the exam in two stages, claiming the second stage for final selection tantamount to "cheating" those who appeared and cleared the first stage of the Railways’ Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) for computer-based test released on January 15.

Around 1.25 crore candidates had applied for the exams that had advertised over 35,000 posts from levels 2 to 6.

It is being alleged that the exam is designed to favour those with a higher qualification, even for jobs that require lesser qualification.

However, Vaishnaw said, "The employment notification has legal sanctity. For those with grievances, we have to find a solution and deal with sensitivity. We cannot legally bar graduates from applying to posts which require 10 2 qualification."

Railways’ Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) Exam: What we know

Of the total vacancies, 24,281 are open to graduates and 11,000 for under-graduates. These posts, segregated in groups based on 7th CPC pay-scale levels from two to six, include that of train assistants, guards, junior clerks, timekeepers and station masters.

For a Level 2 job, the starting pay is about ₹19,000 and one requires to be a Class 12 pass, while for a level six post like station master, with a starting pay of about ₹35,000, graduation is a must.

Railways said shortlisting of candidates has been done separately for each level based on options exercised and educational qualification.

"For second stage computer-based test of each level, candidates have been called 20 times the community-wise vacancies notified against each RRB," the minister said.

Based on merit obtained in the second stage CBT, candidates will be shortlisted for the third stage in which eight times the number of vacancies will be called. The final result will contain a unique list of 35,281 notified vacancies and no one will be appointed against more than one post.

The CBT 2 exam, for which 7 lakh candidates have been shortlisted, was scheduled for February 14 and 18. The tests now stand suspended.

*With inputs from agencies