Dozens of aspirants of the Banking Associates exam conducted by J&K Bank missed their exam on Sunday due to the snowfall across Kashmir which resulted in the blockade of highway, particularly from south Kashmir districts.
The aspirants said they could not reach the exam centres to appear in their scheduled exams in the morning session due to slippery roads and non-availability of passenger traffic.
“My exam centre was at J&K Bank headquarters in Srinagar. Our reporting time was 9 am and exam was scheduled at 10 am. I reached the exam centre at 10 am and was not allowed to write the exams,” said Yasir Altaf Zargar, an aspirant from Anantnag district.
He said around two dozen aspirants, whose centre was JK Bank headquarters, missed their exam.
“We pleaded before the exam staff to allow us to appear in the exam considering the inclement weather condition and blockade of highway but they didn’t allow us,” Zargar said.
Like Zargar, there were other dozens of aspirants who narrated their woeful tale and missed their exam.
Notably, J&KBOSE, University of Kashmir and Cluster University Srinagar postponed all its exams scheduled on Sunday in view of the inclement weather but only J&K Bank conducted its scheduled exam despite persistent demand from the aspirant for its postponement.
“Most of the candidates had to cover long distances to attend the exam which was scheduled in the morning but it was not possible for us to travel to the destination as it was snowing heavily in south Kashmir districts,” another aspirant said.
The aggrieved aspirants said the J&K Bank should give them an opportunity to appear in the exams.
The aspirants of Banking Associate, mostly from south Kashmir districts, also staged a protest on Sunday against the J&K Bank authorities for not allowing them to write the exams after they reached late due to inclement weather.
“We faced the inconvenience due to inclement weather but the bank officials did not pay heed to our genuine plea and disallowed us from writing the exams as we did not reach on time,” they said.
The aspirants said that they were not demanding cancellation of the exams of those who got the chance to write the exams on Sunday but only a fresh exam for those who missed it on Sunday due to snowfall.