COVID-19 fear keeps NEET candidates away from exam special trains

Special trains operated by Railways for students appearing for medical entrance exam NEET received a negligible response. While one run by Dehradun railway ran empty, only 21 students boarded five special trains operated by the Moradabad railway division.

“Since there were over 18 centres for NEET in Dehradunn and 12 in nearby Roorkee, the Railways had specially organised this train so that students could commute easily," Station Superintendent at Dehradun railway station, Sitaram Sonkar told Times of India. "It came as a surprise to us that no one took the train," he added.

Over 15.97 lakh medical aspirants had registered for the NEET 2020 exam that was conducted in 3,862 examination centres under strict COVID-19 safety precautions across the country. According to the NTA, nearly 90 percent of candidates who had registered appeared in the exam.

Several other exam special trains operated by the Moradabad, Prayagraj and Agra divisions did not receive the expected response. A Ghaziabad-bound NEET special train that originated from Bareilly had just one passenger, while one from Bareilly to Lucknow saw five passengers, TOI reported, quoting sources.

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Five special trains operated by the Moradabad railway division got a total of 21 passengers and Railways made a meagre sum of Rs 1,040, the report stated.

Keshav Tripathi, PRO, Prayagraj division, said that the response of NEET aspirants to the exam special trains operated by their division was "quite dull."

"The special train that ran from Aligarh to Delhi was boarded by five people only, incurring a total income of around Rs 250 for the Railways," he told the newspaper.

In Bhopal, a 10-coach NEET special train travelled 400 km from Neemuch carrying only 15 students. However, another NEET special, from Anuppur, got a better response as 270 students boarded the train.

Based on random sampling, the National Testing Agency (NTA) said that the attendance for the exam was between 85-90 percent. However, the official attendance figures were not available yet. The attendance in 2019 was 92.9 percent.

Candidates who missed the exams after testing positive for COVID-19 will get another opportunity to sit for the test, the date for which will be announced later.

The test was offered in 11 languages - English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu this year. Based on the initial report, more than 77 percent aspirants took the test in English, around 12 percent in Hindi and 11 per cent in other languages.

Free transportation and accommodation were announced by various state governments, including West Bengal that ran a special metro service for the candidates.

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