BPSC row: Students break barricades, march towards Raj Bhavan in Patna

Patna witnessed tension on Tuesday as students protested against the 70th Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination. The demonstrators broke through police barricades and marched from Gandhi Maidan towards Raj Bhavan, demanding the cancellation of the exam. The students expressed concerns over irregularities and paper leaks in the examination.

DSP Kamakhya Narayan Singh stated that police would stop the protesters if they tried to move further. The students have raised multiple issues with senior officials, and a positive dialogue has been ongoing. The agitation also brought other recruitment-related demands to the forefront, including changes to the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE) 4.0 and the abolition of negative marking.

The Congress leader Sushil Kumar emphasized that a single-stage examination should be implemented for TRE 4.0, and warned that the students would not be allowed to enter the restricted area if their demands were not met.

Tejashwi Yadav, the Bihar Leader of Opposition, wrote to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, urging the government to engage in constructive dialogue with the protesters. Yadav called for the Teacher Recruitment Examination-Fourth Phase (TRE-4) to be conducted as a single examination and demanded transparency in all competitive examinations conducted by the BPSC, BSSC, and for Sub-Inspector and Constable recruitment.

He also sought a high-level independent inquiry into past examinations and strict action against recruitment mafias.