As many as 15,97,433 students will appear for the NEET exams tomorrow at 3,842 centres across India. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the largest exam for admission to undergraduate medicine and other programmes, will be held today, September 13 from 2 pm to 5 pm. Around 2,28,914 students will appear at 615 NEET exam centres in Maharashtra alone, while the number of NEET aspirants in Uttar Pradesh is 1,66,582 and 1,19,587 in Karnataka. Next is Tamil Nadu with 1,17,990 NEET exam takers for tomorrow, and Kerala with 1,15,959. These six states together account for over 8.57 lakh candidates, more than half the total. For city-state, Delhi alone has 53,993 registered candidates.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NEET was postponed multiple times and following every postponement, candidates were allowed to change their choice of NEET exam centre cities. A total of 95,000 candidates had availed the facility and they have been accommodated against their revised choices.
Considering the hardships NEET aspirants might experience while reaching the exam centres, several state governments have announced measures to assist those appearing for the tests with transport or cancelling their lockdowns and curfews. Several states including West Bengal and Odisha have arranged for transport facilities for the NEET 2020 exam-takers. The Western Railway in Mumbai, Kolkata Metro in West Bengal and the East Central Railway in Bihar also have announced special trains for the NEET aspirants during the exam day to help reach their exam centres.
NEET 2020: States Step In
The West Bengal Government has cancelled the lockdown for the easy communication of students from their residences to the NEET exam centres. The Metro Railway in Kolkata has decided to operate special services on September 13 for the exam-takers. West Bengal has 77,061 NEET aspirants who will take the exams from 189 exam centres tomorrow. Similarly, Punjab Government too, has removed the weekend curfew for assisting the NEET 2020 aspirants reach their exam centres on the day of exam. As many as 16,300 students will take the NEET 2020 exam tomorrow.
The Odisha Government has also announced free transportation and accommodation for candidates who will be required to travel long distances to write NEET 2020 exam.
The Jharkhand Government had earlier allowed reopening of hotels, lodges and restaurants, and also resumed public transport within the state for a month till September 30 in view of the NEET 2020 and JEE Main 2020 exams.
In Mumbai, the Railways will start special train services for transportation of NEET candidates and their parents. The Western Railway will run several additional special suburban services in addition to the already running. The Central Eastern Railway too, in Bihar, on the other hand, have decided to run 20 special trains for the convenience of the NEET examinees appearing in Bihar.
