CM demands setting up of examination center for UPSC's Civil Services Exam at Jalandhar or Ludhiana

Chandigarh, August 31, 2014: In a bid to facilitate the aspirants from the state to appear in the Civil Services Exam in a hassle free manner, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has urged the Union Minister of state, Personnel and Training Dr Jitendra Singh to set up an examination centre either at Ludhiana or Jalandhar, which were the centrally located.
In a letter to Dr Jitendra Singh, the Chief Minister apprised him that thousands of students from the state appear for Civil Services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) annually. He pointed out that at present there was no examination center in the state adding that Chandigarh being the nearest centre, all of the students from Punjab have to come here for appearing in the prestigious examination. Many of these students have to travel a distance of 300 km to reach Chandigarh.
Narrating the hardships faced by the students, the Chief Minister further said that as the exam starts in the early morning, students could not take risk of traveling from their hometown to Chandigarh on the day of the exam, henceforth most of them have to travel a day prior to the exam and make arrangements for their boarding and lodging at Chandigarh. He said that apart from other inconveniences, this also resulted in a lot of economic hardships to the poor students, especially from the rural areas of border districts, being located farthest from the capital city. Pleading the case for hapless aspirants of this coveted exam, Badal mentioned that there were several instances where bright students from disadvantaged background have not even filled the form due to resultant economic hardships. Thus, he sought the Union Minister's immediate intervention resolve this issue of priority by setting up atleast one examination centre in the state for ensuring equal opportunity to all.