Huge chaos was seen at Punjabi Bhawan this morning as more than 1,500 applicants turned up to submit their forms for the compartment cases of classes X and XII. Although the students were given more than 10 days to submit the forms,the majority turned up today,the last date of taking the forms due to which the authorities were not able to handle the rush. Although they had kept 23 counters for taking the forms,the intense heat made the applicants out of control and they were seen pushing and pulling each other just to be at number one to submit their forms. Three students also fell unconscious because of the scorching heat. The authorities had got one tent erected in the open area but it was not sufficient to cater to the huge rush and even adequate drinking water was not available at the venue due to which the problem increased further. Pawandeep,a teenage girl,had fallen unconscious for A few minutes because of standing for hours together in the queue. Later,after taking rest and drinking plenty of fluids she was stated to be normal. Apart from the students,even parents were also standing in queues in equal numbers. Anil Sharma,manager at Punjabi Bhawan said,We had arranged for 22 counters and we took forms of all the students even after 5 pm as well. But the rush was unprecedented. We had made all possible arrangements but the applicants must also try to come earlier. The majority turned up on the last day only. The students,however,stated that the staff at work were too slow and did not realise the scorching heat outside. They demanded more arrangements of drinking water and tents in future at the venue so as to avoid any mishap.
