'71 per cent candidates appearing for Aug 9 exams have centres within 200 km of their cities'

More than 71 per cent candidates appearing for the August 9 exams for posts of assistant loco pilot and technicians have been allocated centres within 200 km of their cities, railways said in a statement today.

The clarification came in response to a question raised in the Lok Sabha by Congress MP Ranjit Ranjan over allocation of exam centres far from the candidates' residence.

In a statement, railways said while 34 lakh candidates have been allocated seats in the same city or in nearby cities within 200 km, about 40 lakh or 83 per cent have been given seats within 500 km.

"About 99 per cent candidates with disabilities and women candidates have been provided centres within 200 km itself," the statement said.

Railways also said that more than 47 lakh candidates were appearing for the exam and in some states the proportion of applicants was much more than the available capacity of suitable exam centres equipped with critical security features like CCTV, frisking, metal detectors.

"Around nine lakh from Bihar, 9.5 lakh from Uttar Pradesh and nearly 4.5 lakh from Rajasthan have applied for the exams. Interstate movement of some candidates is inevitable.

"But here again it has been ensured that the candidates who had applied early have been accommodated in their own or nearby cities and states whereas those candidates who had applied late, toward the date of application, had to be moved out," the statement said.

Railways said that out of the 26,502 vacancies only 2,292 are for railway units in Bihar, whereas the remaining 24,210 vacancies pertain to other regions.