Pune: Maharashtra Public Service Commission ( MPSC ) aspirants are on a protest on Shastri Road since Tuesday as the dates of their preliminary examination and banking service exam coincide on Aug 25. They are also upset with non-inclusion of agriculture posts in the MPSC prelim exam and delay in announcement of the exam schedule for non-gazetted posts at various govt departments. The Maharashtra Gazetted Civil Services Combined Preliminary Examination, 2024, conducted by MPSC, is scheduled for Aug 25.
The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection ( IBPS ) clerical staff exam, 2024, is also scheduled for the same date. Mahesh Gharbude, who’s preparing for the preliminary exam, said, “Many of us have applied for the banking and civil services exams. We face a dilemma over which one to appear for.
As IBPS announced their dates first, its fair that MPSC reschedules theirs.” Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had earlier in the day tweeted that the date of the IBPS and MPSC joint prelim exams coincided, while 258 seats of agriculture department were not included in state service pre-exam. He said, “Due to both these reasons, there is dissatisfaction among the students, so I requested the Chairman of Maharashtra Public Service Commission to take a positive decision in this regard.
He assured me that a meeting will be held at 3pm and it will definitely be considered.” In a tweet on Wednesday afternoon, MPSC said, “According to the demand letters for the posts of Group A, B and Group B (Junior) cadre in Maharashtra Agricultural Service, it is informed that the advertisement for the given cadre will be published in the next 2-3 days. Also, the preliminary examination for the cadre in this service will be conducted till the end of Oct 2024.
” MPSC again tweeted in the evening that a meeting will be held on Thursday at 10.00am. Despite repeated attempts to contact MPSC secretary for clarification on if they were considering postponing the exam, there was no response.
Congress’s Kasba Peth MLA Ravindra Dangekar and Karjat Jamkhed MLA Rohit Pawar (NCP-SCP) visited protesting candidates on Wednesday evening and announced their support. Pawar said he would participate in protest by sitting with the aggrieved candidates till the MPSC released a notification postponing the examination and including agriculture services posts in the combined exam. Akshay Jain, president of Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress’s media and communication department who is also participating in the protest, said instead of making random announcements on social media, the deputy chief minister and MPSC should take concrete steps.
The MPSC had on Tuesday said the agriculture posts were dropped from the Aug 25 prelim exam as a demand letter for the Maharashtra Agricultural Service Examination 2024 was not received from govt until the advertisement for State Services examination was published on Dec 29, 2023. It was not possible to include the agriculture posts in the advertisement; and that the dates for the same will be announced soon, the commission stated.
