Parties want exam centres to be assigned within states

Trouble due to plan to fix venues in same city for those taking 2 tests

- B ANBUSELVAN @Chennai

HUNDREDS of job aspirants from Tamil Nadu, appearing for the Computer-Based Test (CBT) for the Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) examination on March 19, have been assigned test centres 600 to 1,000 km away, in cities like Tirupati, Guntur, Kakinada and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Karimnagar, Hyderabad, Warangal and Secunderabad in Telangana.

Widespread confusion ensued among the candidates due to the Railway Recruitment Board's (RRB's) decision to prioritise assigning venues within the same city for candidates appearing for both the ALP exam and RPF constable exam, the latter is scheduled a day before on March 18. A few candidates also flagged that the issue is not limited to Tamil Nadu, as aspirants from Patna have been assigned centres in Dehradun, and those from Kannur in Kerala have been assigned venues in Karnataka and Telangana.

A total of 6,315 candidates qualified for CBT 2 under RRB Chennai, which is recruiting for 493 ALP positions. The RRB in Thiruvananthapuram, which is filling 233 posts, has also assigned centres in other states for the candidates. In total, Indian Railways aims to fill 18,799 ALP positions through this recruitment drive.