Fresh NEET on May 20 for train-delayed students

Students who failed to take the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on Sunday, due to late arrival of the train, will get another chance to sit for exams on May 20, Union Minister Prakash Javdekar informed. Javdekar responded a day after Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy urged him to arrange for an alternate attempt for the students who missed the test on April 5.

Bengaluru:As many as 365 students of Karnataka will get second chance to appear for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) on May 20 as they missed it on Sunday as the train they were travelling-in from the state's northern districts reached Bengaluru seven hours late, said the Union HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar on Monday.



"Happy to announce that #Karnataka students who missed #NEET exam due to railway delay will get another chance," tweeted Javdekar.

Javdekar responded a day after state Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy urged him to arrange for a separate the NEET exam for the students who missed it for no fault of theirs."Thank you @PrakashJavdekar and @HRDMinistry for considering the request and helping our students," re-tweeted Kumaraswamy.The National Testing Agency (NTA) of the HRD ministry conducts the test every year in May for students to secure admissions to state-run and private medical and dental colleges across the country. The students, who travelled in Hampi Express from Hubli to Mysuru via Koppal, Hospet and Bellary, reached Bengaluru more than seven hours late at 2.36 pm instead of 7 am, while the test started at 2 pm."The students could not reach the examination centres in time and missed it," a South Western Railway (SWR) official admitted on Sunday.

READ: Hundreds of students miss NEET exam in Karnataka due to train delay

The students staged a protest outside the railway station for missing the test. The railways, however, attributed the delay due to the diversion of the train route from due to doubling of the rail track work and operational reasons since May 3. The Chief Minister also wrote to the ministry to allow another 150 students who also missed the test as their exam centre was shifted to Bengaluru from Chikkaballapur at the last minute without prior intimation or information to them. "As the distance from the exam centre at Chikkaballapur to the centre in Bengaluru is about 40km, about 150 students who reached the centre in time to appear for the test there, could not commute to the city by 2 pm and missed it for no fault of them," an official said. Kumaraswamy directed state Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar to request the HRD Ministry for holding the test again for the 150 students who missed it due to change in exam centre at the last minute from an adjacent district to the state capital."The ministry has assured the state that a decision would be taken soon," tweeted the Chief Minister's Office.

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