Mumbai: Causing a huge scare in corona times, thousands of youths took to the streets across Maharashtra on Thursday to protest the state government notification postponing the upcoming prestigious Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) preliminary examinations, leading to police carrying out a baton charge in some places to disperse them.
The MPSC 2020 prelims exams, scheduled to be conducted on March 14, have been postponed for the fifth time in the past one year owing to the Covid-19 crisis, putting the future of many in jeopardy, students said.
An estimated 260,000 plus candidates, including several women, in the 21-30 age group, who have travelled from remote parts of the state, were hoping to appear for the preliminary exams, comprising two objective-type papers, at various centres in the state on Sunday.
Conducted annually by the statutory body, the exams would open the door for successful in various government jobs across sectors based on merits and the applicable reservation criteria.
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Taken aback by the road blockades, sit-ins, slogan-shouting and other forms of agitation that erupted in Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Amravati, Solapur, Nanded, Kolhapur, Jalgaon, and other places, the local police and district administrations rushed to the spots to control the situation.
At some places, the agitating students vowed that they would not clear the roads till the exams were conducted as scheduled on Sunday.