Over 85,000 to take state civil services exam today

Over 85,000 candidates will compete for 331 posts of the state civil services as they appear for the PCS (preliminary) examination on Sunday. The examination will take place at 165 centres across five districts of the state and in Chandigarh.

To negate any possibility of a paper leak, the examination papers have been kept in two strong rooms, one at Patiala and other at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Chandigarh.

In a communique issued on Saturday evening, the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) said it had completed all preparations for the Punjab State Civil Services (PCS) Joint Competitive Preliminary Examination.

PPSC Chairman Major General Vinayak Saini (Retd) said 85,192 candidates had applied for the examination. The exam centres, set up in Chandigarh, Patiala, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur, have been divided into 222 blocks.

The government had appointed senior IAS officers as in-charge supervisors for each district, while separate observers had also been deployed, he added.

PPSC Secretary Charanjit Singh said the exam would be held in two sessions (11 am to 1 pm, and 3 pm to 5 pm).