HAS aspirants lose chance to take exam

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, May 26

Several aspirants of the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Services (HAS) were deprived of a chance to appear in the preliminary exam today at various centres in Solan due to the abrupt suspension of the traffic on the Parwanoo-Dharampur stretch of NH-05 since last evening till 10 am today.

Though the step was taken to remove precariously hanging boulders on the stretch near Sanwara, several HAS aspirants, travelling to Solan, encountered long traffic jams on all alternative roads.

Deepak Verma, an aspirant from Parwanoo, said he had started at 6 am along with two other girls for Solan. “We were advised to take the Parwanoo-Jangeshu route by other commuters but the journey to Solan appeared to be never ending as there was a huge traffic jam on this narrow road. We abandoned the car mid-way and walked for nearly 3 km to save time and even arranged another vehicle for the onward journey but the traffic chaos in Kasauli and the Garkhal junction made matters worse,” he said

“After a gruelling 5-hour journey, we reached Solan at 11:15 am. The time to enter the examination hall was 9:45 am, though we were supposed to report by 9:15 am.”

Though HP Public Service Commission officials were apprised of this problem telephonically, the aspirants were barely given additional 15 minutes to enter the examination centre. Verma said they would demand another chance from the commission to appear in the exam as the chance had been lost for no fault of their. He rued that one year had been wasted and it was demoralising.

Though the district administration tried to publicise the message through social media last evening, students said 24 hours before the exam, they shut all social media platforms and concentrated on the exam. Ajay Kumar, a parent, who was accompanying his son from Panchkula, said, “I started at 5 am to ensure that I was not caught in the traffic jam but I got a shock when I reached Jabli and learnt that the highway was closed further ahead.”

Terming it a carelessness on part of the administration, Kumar added, “Precious time was wasted in returning and taking a detour from the Parwanoo-Jangeshu road where heavy vehicles had lined up for kilometres together.”

He added, “Since it is a single lane road, the traffic moved at a snail’s pace. I barely managed to reach the examination centre minutes before the scheduled time.” DC Vinod Kumar, said the work was supposed to conclude at 4 am but it could not be over till 10 am. Some Haryana Roadways buses created hassles in the smooth passage of the traffic.