Two days after he wrote to Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal seeking postponement of National Eligibility cun Entrance Test and Joint Entrance Examination (Main), Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on phone on Thursday reiterating his demand for putting off the exams.
In his conversation with Modi, Patnaik advocated the postponing the exams because of the alarming Covid -19 situation as well as floods in the state that has gripped many districts, according to an official statement.
Patnaik said over 50,000 students of Odisha who are to appear in the tests this year may face difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic and floods.
On August 25, Patnaik in his letter to the Union education minister had suggested that if the exams are held at a later date then separate examination centres can be assigned to each district of Odisha instead of just seven currently allocated.