Motihari, Dec. 15: Unrest over admit card distribution to applicants for Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) reached the boiling point today when a mob of over 1,000 examinees and others set on fire the official vehicle of Motihari block development officer (BDO).

The mob also damaged more than a dozen other vehicles at the Zila School here.

Soon after getting the information, deputy development commissioner (DDC) Shashi Bhushan Tewari, along with superintendent of police (SP) Ganesh Kumar, arrived at the school to take stock of the situation. Later, the deputy SP, headquarters, Md Mokim, camped at the institute to bring the situation under control.

Distribution of TET admit cards started at two centres here on Sunday last. According to reports, on the fifth day of the admit card distribution, the trouble started near R & S counters of the centre around 1pm. Applicants alleged some teachers went out of way to issue admit cards of some applicants who were not even present in the queue. Soon, the mob turned violent and started hurling abuses and stones on the employees and the police.

The mob was so violent that initially even the lathi-wielding constables had to go into hiding to protect themselves. They came out only after the reinforcement arrived. Even the district education officer and the district programme officer shut down their offices in the adjoining locality and fled for fear of mob attack.

Education officer Jyoti Kumar, later, said the distribution of admit cards would continue tomorrow as a number of applicants haven’t received them yet.

Alleged mismanagement in the distribution of admit cards led to violent protests yesterday too. The police had to resort to lathicharge when the applicants started pelting stones on the distribution staff and the personnel present at one of the centres.

The mob, shouting anti-administration slogans, burnt posters of government-sponsored schemes put up at the centre. Sources claimed some criminal elements present at the spot had instigated the applicants.

The protesters blocked the Balua railway level crossing and disrupted the movement of trains nearly for an hour. Later, they forcibly stopped a goods train coming from Muzaffarpur and ransacked the drivers’ cabin.

The protesters also wanted to target police vehicles but had to flee following lathicharge by the police. More than ten persons sustained injuries yesterday.