RRB Result Row: Railway Min Urges Students to Not Damage Property, Says 'Process Was Transparent'

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday appealed to the students protesting against the alleged irregularities in Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB-NTPC) exam 2021 not to take the law into their hands and assured them that a committee will address their issues. He further said candidates can submit their grievances by February 16 and the committee will submit a report on March 4 to the ministry.

Addressing a presser on the matter, he said, “I want to request my student friends that railways is your property. You are the future, and you should preserve your property. I request students not to take the law into their hands. We will seriously address the grievances and concerns raised by them. All RRB chairmen have been asked to listen to the concerns of students, compile them and send them to the committee. An email address has been set up for this purpose. The committee will go to different parts of the country and listen to grievances.”

Asserting that it’s not a political issue, he said the process was transparent. “We cannot conduct a single-level exam for such a large number of aspirants. This was very much there in the notice. Initially, the selection of the agency took time. After that, coronavirus came along. Still, we tried, and this exam was conducted as soon as possible,” he explained.

On lathi charge by police on protesting students, Vaishnaw said, “I want to ask why you are vandalizing your property. If it has been done… If police has done this….. They are taking action on the law and order issue. This is a sensitive issue.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Railway has stayed the examinations of RRB-NTPC and Level 1 of Railway Recruitment Board in wake of students’ protest and a committee has been formed to listen to the candidates who cleared or failed.

Moreover, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has condemned the incident that took place in Prayagraj too and appealed protesting students to not get provoked by the anti-social elements. He also said that action will be taken against cops also if found guilty.

For the unversed, students protesting against the RRB-NTPC exam 2021 spread to other parts of Bihar on Tuesday. Protestors squatted on rail tracks at several places on Tuesday, hampering train movement in the state. Candidates were opposing the Railways decision to hold the exams in two stages, claiming the second stage for final selection tantamounted to “cheating” those who appeared and cleared the first stage of the RRB-NTPC for computer-based test (CBT) which was released on January 15.

Several trains were canceled or ran on alternative routes on Tuesday on account of the protests. The stir affected several sections of the East Central Railway (ECR) zone and hindered the running of more than 25 trains causing inconvenience to passengers.

Protests were reported from Patna, Nawada, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Buxar and Bhojpur districts. At some places angry protestors blocked railway tracks, clashed with security forces and vandalized railway property. In Sitamarhi, police fired in the air to disperse angry demonstrators at the railway station.

Upset with the result of RRB-NTPC exam 2021, a large number of students had staged a protest at Rajendra Nagar Terminus in Patna on Monday and blocked railway tracks. Following students protest, train services were affected in parts of Bihar even on Monday. Police cleared the tracks and arrested at least four persons on Monday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, chief public relations officer of ECR, Rajesh Kumar 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”, said the release.

Meanwhile, amid rising protests, Ministry of Railways on Tuesday issued a statement, warning candidates of being ‘Debarred for Life’ from obtaining Railway job. Ministry of Railways’ official notice with regards to NTPC protests said those candidates found indulging in unlawful activities or vandalism will be rendered ‘unsuitable’ for Railway/Government jobs. RRB NTPC protest videos will now be examined by the Ministry with the help of specialised agencies. Upon proper examination, those found in indulging in any of the mentioned activities, will be penalised accordingly. They will be liable to both police action as well as lifetime debarment from a Railway job, said the statement.

The protesters claimed that there was only one examination mentioned in the RRB notification issued in 2019. They accused the officials of playing with the future of the students. The issue was highlighted when the results were declared on January 15. At that time, the Ministry of Railways issued a clarification in which it said that second stage exam was clearly mentioned in the notification.

(with inputs from PTI)

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