180 GATE aspirants flown to Jammu in IAF aircraft

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 8

The administration on Friday sent 180 Graduate Aptitude Test Exam (GATE) aspirants from the Valley to Jammu, where they will appear in the exam on Saturday and Sunday.

The students were stuck in Srinagar due to heavy snowfall, which disrupted both air and road traffic, cutting off the Valley from the rest of the country for the last three days.

As the weather improved, a special flight of the Air Force was arranged for the students.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan made the alternate arrangement for the students on their request. The administration had on Thursday asked the students to register with the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, with their GATE registration number. As many as 360 students have registered and are set to appear in the second phase of GATE in Jammu.

“The students were asked to register and 360 have registered. The rest of the students will also be sent. It is good that the weather was favourable today, otherwise it would have been difficult,” said Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, Special Secretary, winter secretariat.

Adviser Khurshid Ganai had taken up the issue with the officials concerned after which the travel arrangements were made. Around 500 Kashmiri students missed GATE in the first phase on February 2 and 3 as they could not travel due to bad weather.

Meanwhile, the left-out aspirants were also scheduled to be airlifted to Jammu in another IAF flight on Friday, but had to return home from the airport after waiting for the whole day. “The authorities have promised us that we would be flown to Jammu on Saturday morning. We were made to wait at the airport till evening,” said an aspirant.

An official said the flight scheduled to airlift the aspirants could not land in Srinagar. He said the students would be taken to Jammu in a morning flight on Saturday.