Shillong, May 15: Nearly two hours’ delay in conducting the scheduled Common University Entrance Test (CUET) at North Eastern Hills University (NEHU) on Wednesday caused panic, leading to a ‘stampede’-like situation.
The situation turned chaotic when students were barred from entering the examination hall at the scheduled 3 pm slot for the English paper. Entry was allowed between 5:00 – 5:20 PM.
Registrar of NEHU, Col. Omkar Singh (Retd), attributed the delay to a malfunction in the Biometric System, necessary for students verification before entering the examination hall.
Singh said that upon discovering the malfunction, NEHU authorities promptly notified the National Testing Agency (NTA) to seek approval to proceed with the examination without the Biometric System. Until receiving approval from the NTA, the examination could not be commenced.
Addressing allegations of NEHU’s unpreparedness, Singh clarified that NEHU’s role was solely to provide the venue for the examination, with all examination procedures under the purview of the NTA. However, he conceded that NEHU could have been more prepared to deal with crowd management.
Parents have expressed distress over the lack of an official display of examination roll numbers and seating arrangements at the examination center. Despite students arriving on time, the absence of this crucial information led to panic and confusion.
The NEHU Registrar informed that, according to the university management’s knowledge, despite the panic caused by the delay, no students missed the examination.
When asked about allegations that a couple of students were rushed to the hospital after a stampede-like situation arose due to panic, the NEHU registrar refused to comment on the matter.
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