NEET PG 2024: Shashi Tharoor Writes To Nadda, Says 'Aspirants Made To Travel To Faraway Distances'

Shashi Tharoor said that the NEET PG aspirants are being constrained to travel to faraway distances spanning thousands of kilometres.

Shashi Tharoor has written to BJP President JP Nadda expressing concerns on NEET PG Exam.

Source : PTI

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday wrote a letter to BJP President JP Nadda requesting his urgent action over the issue of far-off examination centres in the NEET PG examinations, scheduled to be held on August 11. 

He said he is writing the letter to draw Nadda's attention to the "woeful situation in which nearly 2 lakh NEET PG 2024 aspirants, their futures hanging in balance, find themselves."

The Thiruvananthapuram MP said that the aspirants are being constrained to travel to faraway distances spanning thousands of kilometres.

"It appears that aspirants are still being constrained to travel faraway distances, some even spanning thousands of kilometres. The current weather - which has spawned vicious vagaries of nature across India - challenges of ticket availability, shortage of affordable accommodation and concerns of safety place these doctors in an untenable position," Shashi Tharoor wrote. 

"If we are to have national exams, we ought to be able to authorise enough centres in every state, especially given the manageable number of aspirants, allowing candidates to take the exam from centres easily accessible from their places of education or residence," the MP said.

He also raised concerns regarding the two-shift examination, with two different question papers in the two shifts.

"The whole idea of a national examination is vitiated unless it is one test on one date everywhere across India. Exacerbating all of this are the reports that the number of cities, where the tests are to be conducted, has been reduced significantly," he added.

He further urged JP Nadda to look into the issues and resolve them at the earliest. 

Meanwhile, a plea has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the NEET-PG examination stating that many candidates have been allocated cities which are highly inconvenient for them to reach. 

The plea said the test cities were allotted on July 31 and the specific centres will be declared on August 8. An SC bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra agreed to hear the plea on Friday.

Several candidates have taken to social media to narrate their ordeal and criticise the National Board of Examinations (NBE) for allegedly causing mental harassment. The students are demanding the exam be conducted in a single shift with centres within their home states.  

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-Postgraduate exam was initially supposed to be held on June 23. It was postponed by the Union Health Ministry as a precautionary measure in the wake of alleged irregularities in certain competitive exams.