Rajasthan: 14,000 buses, special trains for 16 lakh REET candidates

JAIPUR: The transport department will ply 3,500 buses for aspirants will be appearing for REET on September 26 and 27. The district headquarters have been asked to coordinate with private bus operators as well who are likely to operate over 10,000 buses. In all, 16 lakh aspirants from the state will sit for the exam.
Officials have appealed to candidates to plan their travel in advance to avail the free travel option.The authorities claimed they were well equipped to handle the load but have cancelled online bookings for five days from September 24.

State transport minister Pratapsingh Khachariyawas said, “This is a facility by the government to ensure that candidates can appear for the exam. For the purpose, we have allowed free travel for REET aspirants five days before the examination and five days after in roadways buses by showing the admit cards. This was done so that there is no overcrowding. We expect that people should also make arrangements accordingly. They can also make private travel arrangements.”
According to sources, roadways can sustain 10 lakh passengers daily and while they are not hiring additional vehicles, the existing fleet can make more than one trip if need arises.
Meanwhile, the district headquarters across the state have also been asked to take the help of private bus operators. Anil Jain, president of private bus association said, “Each district headquarters will give their requirement of buses based on exam centres/candidates and accordingly we will provide service though it will not be free of cost and passengers will have to pay for the tickets.” The authorities said unnecessary panic was being created about the travel arrangements and explaining about the mathematics of the same. An official explained, “There are over 16 lakh passengers and we take into account that around 2-3 lakh might use trains or make their own arrangements for travel then the remaining ones can be easily avail the free travel in roadways of they want.”
Kota divisional railway management on Tuesday announced to run special train between Kota – Dahar ka Balaji (Jaipur) for REET candidates.The train will run between Kota and Dahar ka Balaji (Jaipur) on Wednesday with unreserved mail express fare. The train will start from Kota at 2:30 pm on Wednesday and reach Jaipur at 7:40pm. Return train from Jaipur will start at 8:45pm and reach Kota at 1:05am on Thursday.
For security at more than 4000 centres across the state, there will be deployment of 2 constables, 2 home guards and 2 woman constables at each centre.