CBI arrests NHAI CGM and Regional Officer over graft charges
For allegedly receiving bribe for favouring company in the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway project
NEW DELHI: Students in the national capital huffed and puffed their way to exam centres battling anxiousness and trepidation as the debut edition of Common University Entrance Test kicked off Friday amid complaints of last-minute change of exam centres, exhausting commute, and lengthy question papers.
Some students, stressed already over taking the firstever CUET, missed the paper due to a sudden change in the exam centre. The National Testing Agency (NTA) officials have assured they will be given a second chance to realise their dream of studying in a central university.
The exam will transform the way undergraduate admissions are conducted in the country, especially at popular central universities like Delhi University where the Class 12 result was a deciding factor so far.
What was, however, a relief for the students was that the difficulty level of the exam was not high, though some question were lengthy.
Of the many who could not appear for the exam was 18-year-old Aanchal.
Standing outside the examination centre at the DU’s North Campus, she said her exam centre was earlier in Dwarka but when she reached there, she was disallowed entry.
“I was informed that my centre has been changed. I panicked and did not know what to do. After a two-hour journey when we finally reached the North Campus, they told us that the time for entering the exam centre has passed,” she said.
On whether she was informed about the change of centre beforehand, Aanchal replied, “I checked my mail only after I was informed that this is not my centre. I would have checked it earlier had I known that the centre would be changed.”
The same was the case with Ritika who reached the Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) as was mentioned
NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday arrested National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) CGM and Regional Officer Digvijay Mishra from Gandhinagar while allegedly receiving Rs 10 lakh bribe from a GHV India representative for favouring the company in the Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway project, officials said.
Mishra, the Chief General Manager (CGM) and Regional Officer (RO) of the National in her admit card. However, on reaching there she was informed that her new exam centre was the North Campus. The travel time between NDUT and North Campus is around two hours.
“I rushed to North Campus but was not allowed entry because the time was over. This is wrong and our whole future hangs in balance,” she said.
Many students, however, were able to reach their examination centre on time as well
Highways Authority of India (NHAI), was booked after receiving a complaint of corruption against him for favouring the company which was engaged in the 109-kilometer Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway project, they said.
It emerged during surveillance that Mishra was favouring the company in the settlement of bills, award of work, completion certificates, extension of deadlines and other matters related to package 1 and 2 of the project, despite the last-minute change.
“My brother, who is appearing for CUET, was assigned a centre in Dwarka. But it was changed at the last minute to Delhi University. We checked the email last night and were able to reach here,” said Sanchit outside the exam centre.
While the morning scenes were of students anxiously going over their notes and praying to God, the after-exam scenes showed relieved students coming out of the centres with smiling faces.
“We have been worried about our wards for several days as we also did not know what kind of exam will come. Moreover, there was a lot of confusion around the examination. Admit cards too came very late. Finally, we can take rest,” Praveen Kumar, whose son Kamal appeared for CUET.
Kamal took three tests -physical education, political science and general test.
“I felt the general test was a little tough because we have not done it before. But the other two exams were pretty easy. All came from what we had studied in Class 11 and 12,” he said. among others, they said.
On getting confirmation about a possible bribe exchange, CBI teams swooped down at the location and arrested Mishra who was allegedly receiving the bribe from TP Singh, a representative of the company. Singh was also taken into custody, officials said.
Following the arrest, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 14 locations in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Pune, Delhi and Chandigarh.