Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Group-I Services Mains Examinations commenced on Saturday. As many as 6,455 candidates, who cleared the prelims, are appearing for Mains exams that will conclude on June 10.
The examinations are being held at 11 exam centres across 10 districts in offline mode and elaborate arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of the exams. A total of 290 differently abled candidates are appearing for the exams, and officials have arranged scribes to write the exams on their behalf.
The officials of the Commission maintained a close vigil on the exam centres from the Common Centre established in the Commission office for the purpose.
Commission Chairman Gautam Sawang, along with the Secretary J Pradeep Kumar, inspected the examination centres on Friday and instructed the invigilators to ensure strict monitoring during the exams. He said the exam centres were under electronic surveillance and the officials were closely watching the CCTV cameras of all the centres.
The officials are using face-recognition technology to allow candidates inside the exam halls and 70 biometric machines have been installed at the exam centres for the purpose.
In Vijayawada, of the total 1,307 candidates who registered, 981 of them wrote the test while 326 of them were absent, said NTR District Collector S. Dilli Rao.
Speaking to the media after visiting the exam centres at KBN College at Kothapet and Potti Sriramulu Chadawada Mallikarjunarao Engineering College, Mr. Dilli Rao said at KBN College, of the total 301 registered candidates, 254 showed up for the examination while 47 were absent and at Potti Sriramulu College, out of the 1,006 candidates, 727 of them wrote the test while 279 of them were absent.
He said for smooth conduct of the examinations, three district-level officials were appointed as liaison officers besides two chief superintendents.
