Payyanur: The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2023, went off smoothly in most centres across Kerala on Sunday. A few centres, however, reported delays. Some candidates couldn't take the test.

A candidate caught in a traffic congestion on the National Highway en route to the exam centre on Sunday could not write the test as she was four minutes late.

The exam centre for Nayana George of Nirmalagiri, Koothuparamba in Kannur district, was the Latheefiya English School at Perumba in Payyanur.

Even though candidates had to report at the exam centre only by 1:30 pm, Nayana started from home along with her parents, George and Rosemary, at 9 am. George was at the wheel. The car was expected to take two hours to cover the distance of 62 km; So, they started from home even without having any food, with the hope of reaching Payyannur by 11 am and reporting at the examination hall after having their breakfast.

They reached Chala in Kannur, which is the entry point to the National Highway, on time. Thereafter, the vehicle was caught in traffic blocks.

A distance of 46.3 km needed to be covered from the spot to the exam centre. There was a massive traffic hold-up at Ezhilode, where they reached at 12 noon after negotiating traffic jams in Kannur, Pallikkunnu, and Puthiyatheruvu. A broke down container lorry was preventing movement of vehicles across the road at Edat. which had in turn triggered the congestion.

At 12:45 pm, the mother and daughter rushed out of the car and ran for over a kilometre. Seeing them in distress, some passers-by sent the candidate on a scooter even as the mother ran behind it. When Nayana reached the school, it was 1.34 pm; the gates had been closed four minutes ago. The mother who was close behind, collapsed on seeing her daughter in tears in front of the gates. At last, Nayana's father George, who arrived at the place in the car, consoled the daughter and took his wife to the hospital. Nayana lost the opportunity to write the exam after undergoing coaching for the same for the past one year.

Two other cases

Elsewhere, two other candidates couldn't sit for the test. In the hall ticket of the two students – both female candidates from Chengannur – the exam centre was marked as Government Girls School, Cherthala. However, the said school was not an exam centre. The students approached two other centres which were the nearest to aforementioned school, but their details were not listed at these centres as well and they could not write the test.

This year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admissions to undergraduate medical courses in India took place at all scheduled centres, except Manipur, on May 7. In Kerala, 1.28 lakh students had registered for the test and 1.20 lakh students attended.