Students protest against Railway exam results in Patna, block railway tracks

Bihar Police fired tear gas shells & used water cannon to disperse students protesting against the alleged irregularities in Railway Recruitment Board exam results. The protesters were unhappy over the "inaccurate exam results" and blocked the railway tracks.

Patna: Police fired tear gas shells & used water cannon on Monday to disperse students protesting against the alleged irregularities in the results of Railway Recruitment Board's Non-Technical Popular Categories exam. The results of the RRB Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) for computer-based test (CBT) was released on January 15 for shortlisting the candidates for the CBT-2.

The protesters were unhappy over the "inaccurate exam results" and while opposing the government’s move they started protesting at Patna's Rajendra Nagar Terminus and blocked the railway tracks. Following the protest, several trains were cancelled or made to run on alternative routes. According to the East Central Railway and the district administration, traffic was restored well past 10 pm after remaining disrupted for several hours. Police got the tracks cleared and arrested at least four persons.

"The protesters had gathered at the Rajendra Nagar Terminus in the afternoon. They were alleging discrepancies in the result of an exam conducted by Railway Recruitment Board, which was announced recently," the district administration said in a release. It said "mild" use of force was resorted to after attempts by officials, led by Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh and SSP Manavjeet Singh Dhillon to pacify the agitators yielded no results. "An FIR has been registered in this connection. It is suspected that the protesters might have been instigated by those running coaching institutes for competitive exams. All those found complicit will face action."

ECR chief public relations officer Rajesh Kumar said five trains originating from the station had to be cancelled for the day because of the squatting on the tracks. These included the New Delhi-bound Tejas Rajdhani, Sampoorn Kranti Express and Mumbai-bound Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express.
Five other trains which pass through the station had to be diverted, he said. "Traffic was restored at 10.24 pm when the New Delhi-bound Poorva Express from Howrah departed from Rajendra Nagar" Kumar added.

with agency inputs