Tears and heartbreak outside exam centres; Bengaluru traffic dashes hopes of NEET aspirants

BENGALURU: The visuals in front of the examination centre of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026 in Bengaluru were rather depressing. Many students broke into tears, inconsolable after they were denied access to the exams for arriving late.

Outside Government Ramnarayan Chellaram College on Palace Road, students were seen crying and pleading with staff to allow them entry to the exam halls. In another video, a student tried to climb the gate but was denied entry.

Agitated parents entered into a verbal altercation with staff and blamed a Congress party rally for the traffic congestion that made the students arrive late.

According to NTA guidelines, the aspirants were allowed entry to the centres from 11: 30 am on Sunday. The gates were closed at 1:30 pm. NTA had earlier advised students to be present at the centre earlier in advance, keeping in mind the enhanced security arrangements and other procedures related to the re-exam.

Unprecedented security measures were introduced to ensure the security of the exam this time. Question papers were transported to the examination centres in Indian Air Force aircraft. There are a total of 5,440 examination centres in 551 cities in the country and 14 centres abroad. CCTV cameras were installed in more than 95,000 rooms. Real-time surveillance was carried out at the national and state levels through a total of 1,38,560 CCTV cameras. 51,311 jammers were installed to prevent high-tech cheating.