Angry job aspirants go berserk, damage govt vehicle

Baripada: Peeved over denial of facility to appear at the written examination for a job in the prison department, angry aspirants resorted to violence and damaged a government vehicle here today, police said.

About 1,400 candidates had qualified for the written test for recruitment of 85 posts of warders under 12 jails in Baripada circle spread over four districts - Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Balasore.

The examination was to be held here today at reserve police ground but due to inclement weather, jail authorities shifted the venue to Baripada College in Bhanjapur area of the town and accordingly informed the candidates, superintendent the circle jail, Baripada, Prakash Chandra Sahu said.

After being informed by the principal of the college Anupama Nanda that there was facility for accomodating only 400 students, the jail authorities suggested her that the furniture from the examination hall would be removed and candidates would appear the examination sitting on the floor.

They also informed the students that the examination would start at 3 pm, he said.

However, the authorities were caught off guard before the commencement of the test as the number of candidates turned up for the purpose was over 3,000 against 1,400 who had qualified

Besides, the college had only one entrance and sufficient staff was not deployed to identify the qualified students for written test leading to a chaotic situation.

Even as the authorities were busy to find a solution to the imbroglio, the aspirants went berserk and resorted to stone pelting and damaged the official vehicle of the DIG of prisons in Odisha K B Nayak.

Armed police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, Sahu said adding no one was injured in the incident.

The jail authorities declared the written test for the day as cancelled, Sahu said.

A new date would be announced later.