TSPSC conducts Group-1 preliminary exam in 994 centres across Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) made elaborate arrangements for the Group-1 Service Preliminary Examination and successfully conducted it on Sunday.

The examination was held from 10.30 am to 1 pm in 994 centres spread across 33 Telangana districts. As many as 3,80,081 job aspirants have applied for Group-1 and 3,00,836 (79.15 percent) downloaded their hall tickets.

Previously, 2,86,051 candidates registered for the Group-l test, which was scheduled for October 16, 2022 but the examination was cancelled in the wake of the TSPSC paper leak scandal.

The District Collectors were designated as District Authority and Additional Collectors were designated as Chief Coordinating Officers to oversee the smooth conduct of examination in their respective Districts.

To coordinate the conduct of the exam, 994 Chief Superintendents, 994 Liaison Officers, 310 Route Officers were appointed.

The District Authorities held a series of training sessions that were coordinated by the Commission. District administration provided further training to invigilators.

The Chief Secretary and Director General of Police had a video conference and a Cell Conference, during which they issued directives to all District Collectors, Deputy Commissioners of Police, and Superintendents of Police.

The education department also convened an online conference with all DEOS and Chief Coordinating Officers and issued the required directives. The Commission met numerous times, and the members provided useful comments and assessed the exam arrangements.

The TSPSC Chairman addressed all Chief Coordinating Officers via online conference and provided specific directions for the exam's administration. The Commission also planned a series of convergence meetings with the Police, Electricity, Education, Municipal Administration, Transportation, and Postal Departments to guarantee collaboration in the pre-exam arrangements.

The police department was also asked to assist in the comprehensive screening of candidates, both male and female, at all locations. Every venue also had adequate bandobasth.

SMSs were sent to all the candidates three days ahead of the examination to practice bubbling and avoid mistakes in the examination hall while filling up OMR answer sheets. SMSs were also sent to all the candidates whose photos were found defective or not properly available on the Hall ticket to come to the exam venue with three photos attested by the Gazetted officer.

The candidates were also directed to go through Hall Ticket instructions and SMS messages sent to carry the original Hall Ticket along with original Identity cards issued by the Government viz., like PAN card, Aadhar card, Voter card.

The candidates were strictly warned not to bring/possess any electronic devices if any candidate was found to possess such devices action would be initiated under Telangana Public Examinations (Prevention of Malpractice and unfair means) Act, 1997.

The candidates were advised to wear only Chappals and not to wear shoes, belts were also thoroughly checked. Frisking was also planned for both male and female candidates separately with the assistance of police.

The commission also established a command center at TSPSC to monitor the conduct of the examination at all the centres.

The TSPSC exam paper leak case, which sparked outrage in Telangana, came to light on March 12, resulting in the cancellation of the Group 1 preliminary examination and the Assistant Engineers, AEE, and DAO exams.