Kolkata, September 14: A student from Bihar travelled for more than 24 hours to appear for NEET in West Bengal on Sunday, but missed the exam because he got late by 10 minutes to reach the centre. Santosh Kumar Yadav, a resident of Darbhanga, got NEET exam centre at a school in Salt Lake, a township located to the east of Kolkata. He had to travel a 700-odd kilometre distance to reach Kolkata, but couldn't reach on time. NEET 2020 Exam Flouts Social Distancing: Medical Aspirants Take to Twitter to Share Pics Displaying How NTA Examination Centres Failed to Follow SOP Guidelines.

"I boarded a bus from Darbhanga at 8 am on Saturday to reach Muzaffarpur. From there I took a bus to Patna but there was a traffic jam on the route and I got delayed by almost six hours. I took another bus from Patna at 9 pm. The bus dropped me near Sealdah station (in Kolkata) at 1.06 pm. A taxi brought me to the examination centre," Yadav told a local news channel. No NEET If Congress, Led by Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi, Comes to Power: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy.

While the NEET started at 2 pm, Yadav reached the exam centre at 1:40. However, the authorities did not allow him to enter the examination centre because the deadline for entering the centre was 1:30 pm. Besides, NEET examinees were instructed to report at the exam centres at least three hours in advance so that they can go through security and health checks mandated due to the COVID-19.

"I pleaded the authorities but they said I was late... I lost a year,” Yadav said. Many NEET examinees reportedly struggled to reach the exam centres in West Bengal. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Dilip Ghosh slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government for making travel arrangments for students.

"The Supreme Court (while dismissing a petition for delaying NEET and JEE) said that students should get all help to travel and get accommodation. During the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), examinees in West Bengal had to face a lot of difficulty and the chief minister had said 70 percent of them could not take the test. This government is not at all sympathetic towards students,” Ghosh was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.

State Education Minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee acknowledge that examinees had to face difficulties while travelling. "We knew that students would face trouble. The metro railway can carry them within Kolkata but what about those from other districts? Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled the state-wide lockdown on Saturday only to help students travel. But they still faced problems because of the pandemic situation," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 14, 2020 11:47 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).