Srinagar, Mar 15: Amidst elaborate and stringent arrangements, more than 10,000 candidates appeared in the first paper of the mains examination of the Kashmir administrative services examination in Kashmir and Jammu provinces on Monday.
According to the officials of the Public Service Commission, which is conducting the examination, of the 5, 723 aspirants 73 per cent appeared in the first descriptive general studies paper in Jammu division while 70 per cent of 4,731 aspirants appeared for the same in Kashmir division. The candidates are vying for 398 vacancies.
The PSC had set up 18 examination centres in the Jammu region and 12 centres in Kashmir region.
The aspirants swarmed the examination centres from the early morning where they were searched and frisked before allowing entry into the examination halls. The invigilators didn’t allow the use of mobiles and other communication gadgets in the examination centres.
Officials of the PSC said that the first paper was held smoothly in both divisions of the state.
Apart from the invigilators in the educational institutions, the government observers including the officials of the district and divisional administration and the officials of the general administration department also visited the examination centres to monitor the conduct of the examination.
Officials of the PSC also visited the examination centres to assess the conduct of the examination.
Police officials were also deployed outside the examination centres to secure the premises and prevent any untoward incident.
The month long examination will conclude on April 15, 2009 and includes four compulsory papers and 66 optional papers—including papers A & B.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 IST