Title - Applicants mob train, push around passengers

PANCHKULA: Candidates who were in the city to appear for the railway recruitment exam mobbed a train at the railway station at 12.30pm on Sunday. Many of them climbed up on the roof of the train jostling for a foothold on the train. It was only after the police and the GRP intervened and asked them to come down was the situation brought under control. Five special trains were run for them but the candidates thinking that there was only one train tried to get on to it. Over 70,000 candidates had descended on the city for the exam.As the applicants crowded the platform, other passengers were inconvenienced and many of them got jostled too. "There is no system. The authorities should have anticipated such a thing happening and taken steps to ensure that it did not. I was waiting at the platform with my kids for another train and suddenly I saw thousands of candidates rushing towards the train, getting jostled in the processs. Thankfully my children were not hurt," said Sarika Dhiman, a resident of Sector 34, Chandigarh."A woman who had come to see off her relatives at the station had a tough time finding her way through the crowd as the platform was crowded with railway exam candidates," said Darshan Paul Singh, head constable, while adding that "some of them got into the AC coach of a train that was not meant for them. The pasenagers in the coach called the security staff and we forced them to step out of the coach.""We specially had five additional trains running on Sunday for the candidates. The first train from Chandigarh to Saharanpur was to start at 3.30pm but it reached the platform at 12.30pm and the candidates thinking that it was the only train and was about to leave the station, climbed on to its roof," said station superintendent Praveen Kumar.He added, "It was after the police and GRP intervened that they were asked to come down and were told that there are five trains for them. All were in a hurry to get home early."The candidates had their exam from 10am to 12noon.Five trains- Chandigarh to Saharanpur, Chandigarh to Amritsar, two trains to Delhi and one to Jagadri were run especially for the candidates on Sunday."I was amazed to see people sitting on the roof of the train even as the train was moving. The railway officials should have done something to stop such a thing from happening, and that too at the Chandigarh railway station, which is considered to be one of the most systematic stations in the country," said Anita Rani, a tourist."We tried our best to provide a peaceful atmosphere and all amenities, besides security to the passengers," said Kumar.

Din rules
The presence of thousands of candidates for the railway recruitment exam at various places in the city caused a lot of commotion. "A bunch of people, who seemed to have come from outside the city, gathered around my home on late Saturday night. Fearing that they might be thieves, I informed my neighbours, resulting in a commotion in our locality," said Amit Sehgal, a resident of Sector 15, Chandigarh. "I wanted to get some sound sleep after a tiring week but I could not a wink as these candidates gathered in front of my home and kept shouting and talking loudly all the time," said Amitesh Kumar, a resident of Sector 40, Chandigarh.