Karnataka: Railways to urge HRD Ministry to re-conduct NEET exam after hundreds of students miss due to train delay

The Railway ministry will write to HRD Ministry urging it to re-conduct the NEET exam for students who missed it after they reached to the examination centre late due to delay in the arrival of train in which they were travelling in Karnataka. 

Hundreds of students Sunday, who missed their National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), were travelling from Hampi Express to reach their examination centre after the train got delayed by six hours. 

According to Indian Railways, the Hampi Express-16591, which was plying from North Karnataka to Bengaluru reached its destination at 2.30 pm, while the students were supposed to report to the examination centre by 1:30 pm.

South Western Railway Public Relation Officer (PRO) said the Railway ministry will write to HRD Ministry urging it to re-conduct the NEET exam for the said students.

South Western Railway PRO: We will write to Ministry of HRD to re-conduct the NEET exam for students, who were travelling in the Hampi Express and missed their exam due to a delay in train reaching the destination.

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2019

While speaking to ANI, South Western Railway PRO, said, "We will write to the Ministry of HRD to re-conduct the NEET exam for students, who were travelling in the Hampi Express and missed their exam due to a delay in train reaching the destination."

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah criticised the Centre and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for the delay in train services. "You (Narendra Modi) pat your own back for others' achievements but will you also take the responsibility for your cabinet min' incapabilities. Hundreds of students in Karnataka may not be able to take up NEET because of delay in the train services," the Chief Minister tweeted. 

Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Siddaramaiah asked Piyush Goyal to ensure that the aggrieved students get another chance to write NEET exam. 

The NEET UG 2019 examination was conducted Sunday by the National Test Agency (NTA) for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses across India.

Except for Odisha, the exam was conducted across the country from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm. The NTA will conduct exam later in Odisha as the state was hit by Cyclone Fani.