Pune Police break up MPSC aspirants’ protest, six detained

In response to the students' demands, MPSC officials held a meeting on Thursday and issued a new notification postponing the preliminary exam that was previously scheduled to clash with the IBPS exam on August 25.

UP Police constable 2024: Answer key released at uppbpb.gov.in; objections till September 15

Candidates can submit the objections to a question just once and have to support it with valid and authentic evidence. (Representative Image)

Pune Police detained six Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) aspirants on Thursday evening in a crackdown on the demonstration at Lal Bahadur Road over their demands to reschedule the MPSC preliminary exam date that had been clashing with the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) exam.

In response to the students’ demands, MPSC officials held a meeting on Thursday and issued a new notification postponing the preliminary exam that was previously scheduled to clash with the IBPS exam on August 25. Despite the new notification, students continued their demonstration, as it did not mention a revised schedule date. Students also highlighted their dissatisfaction, citing their demand for a notification that had not being issued for the non-gazette Class 2 exam. This was one of the major demands of the students.

Nitin, one of the aspirants, said that the exams have already been postponed three times this year for different reasons, such as the general election. “This is the fourth time it has been revised due to the both the exams clashing. Considering upcoming festivities and state elections in October, we are not sure if we will be able to get done with the examinations anytime soon. The government should realise that this is taking a toll on our mental health in addition to our finances,” he said.

Many agriculture students expressed their frustration, questioning why the 258 agriculture posts, which the government announced would be filled through the MPSC, were not mentioned in the MPSC pre-exam advertisement published on December 29 last year.

Arvind, an agricultural graduate student preparing for the exam, said that it has been a long wait since the last recruitment in 2021, and now, despite the government’s decision to recruit agricultural officers through the MPSC, this has not been mentioned in the notification.

“Earlier, both the MPSC and Agricultural Officer exams were conducted separately, but last year it was announced that the agricultural posts would be filled through the MPSC. So, when will the recruitment of agricultural students begin? Now they have detained our fellow aspirants,” Arvind added.

However, DCP Sandeep Singh said the demonstration was halted due to two reasons — the students’ demand for a new MPSC pre-exam schedule that had been met, and that their protest had been disrupting traffic on Lal Bahadur Shastri Road. “We forced them to stop the protest because they didn’t have a permit to sit in on the demonstration, after which we detained a few students. This was causing a traffic issue on the road,” he said.

Shubham Tigga

Shubham Tigga hails from Chhattisgarh and studied journalism at the Asian College of Journalism. He previously reported in Chhattisgarh on Indigenous issues and is deeply interested in covering socio-political, human rights, and environmental issues in mainland and NE India. Presently based in Pune, he reports on civil aviation, other transport sectors, urban mobility, the gig economy, commercial matters, and workers' unions. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn ... Read More

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