Hyderabad: As a last-ditch bid, Group-I aspirants hold protest in city

Hyderabad: Once again, TGPSC Group 1 exam aspirants held a protest at Ashok Nagar on Sunday and urged the State government to postpone the exam that is scheduled for October 21 and revoke GO 29. A few aspirants pointed out that some of the candidates who were made eligible under the sports quota received the message to download their hall tickets on October 19 evening to appear for the exam to be held on Monday, October 21. Candidates said that it is unfair to send an alert just 48 hours prior to the exam.

Some of the vital concerns that agitators raised include uncertainty about the study material. Secondly, the issuance of GO 29 has changed reservation norms for SC, ST, BC, and EWS categories, rendering many aspirants ineligible under the new guidelines. These changes are currently under judicial review, and the Telangana High Court’s interim order states that the results of the Group 1 exam will be subject to its final verdict, expected on November 20, 2024. This uncertainty has left aspirants questioning the validity of the exam and the outcome of results. "Some candidates under the sports quota were only issued their hall tickets last night, just 48 hours before the scheduled exam.

This last-minute notification has caused extreme confusion, as we got very little time for preparations,” said Ramesh Reddy, one of the aspirants. Meanwhile, for the past week, aspirants have been staging protests, followed by police lathi-charges and detentions of the protesting candidates. "I passed my qualifying exams, and I am preparing for the Mains exams. I live in Nizamabad, and it takes seven hours to reach Hyderabad, and just one day before the exam I received my centre, and it is unfair for candidates like us who are located in far away areas," said another aspirant.