West Bengal: Relieved, NEET aspirants hail ‘no lockdown’ order – Times of India

KOLKATA: The state government’s decision to withdraw the second day of lockdown came as a huge relief for thousands of NEET aspirants across Bengal who will be taking the entrance test on Sunday. It was a bigger relief for those who need to travel a long distance to the exam centres and must start their journey a day in advance.
According to a National Testing Agency (NTA) release, 77,061 NEET (UG) aspirants are to appear for the one-day examination across 189 centres in Bengal. The number of candidates is more than double than the 37,973 candidates who had enrolled for JEE (Main). Unlike JEE (Main) which was held over six days from June 1 to June 6 in 15 examination centres, NEET (UG) will be held in one day, September 13. About 47.1% of the candidates enrolled for JEE (Main) gave their examinations in Bengal.

The Calcutta high court on Wednesday heard four appeals, including one from a Covid positive East Midnapore student, who had cited their apprehensions over travelling several hundred kilometres on the examination day due to lockdown. In one appeal, the HC also asked the state to arrange for an accommodation in Siliguri from September 10 to 14 for a North Dinajpur NEET candidate who will take the test there on Sunday. Disposing the appeals, the HC on Wednesday said “unprecedented situation which has been caused due to the Covid” and “as suburban and other scheduled trains are not in operation”, it is expected that state will make adequate transport arrangements to help the students reach examination centres on time.
East Midnapore resident Debabrata Panda welcomed CM Mamata Banerjee’s decison to cancel the September 12 lockdown order. Panda was extremely anxious after his son tested Covid positive on August 18, weeks before he is supposed to appear in the NEET (UG) examinations at a college in Dantan, 76 km from their Patashpur home. Panda had moved high court with his plea. “My son can now appear for his examinations peacefully,” he said.
Khejuri resident Amal Kumar Jana is planning to reach Kharagpur, 143 kilometres away from his home, a day before his son sits for the exam at the town. He, too, had moved HC with a plea to defer the lockdown. Pradipta Kumar De, a resident of Kandi in Murshidabad, too, was happy that her daughter can travel to her examination centre in New Town, a distance of 208 kms from home, a day earlier. HC advocate Kallol Basu, who moved the petitions, said: “I want to thank the CM for this decision.”