Examinees who did not get admit cards demonstrate in front of the JPSC office in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, May 26: They are everywhere — in the dharmashalas, small hotels, railway station, bus terminals, private houses of acquaintances, even pavements.

Aspiring for a teacher’s job in Jharkhand, thousands of unemployed men and women from Bihar have landed in Ranchi and other towns for tomorrow’s test.

The groundswell of candidates from the neighbouring state for the teachers’ recruitment examination, which has put Jharkhand on the boil, has confirmed the allegations levelled by the pro-domicile leaders that the bulk of applications had poured in from Bihar.

It has also confirmed the acute crisis of unemployment in the parent state.

The Jharkhand government claims to have made foolproof arrangements for the examinees tomorrow, which begins at 10 am and ends at 1 pm.

Special buses would be pressed into service for transporting the candidates to the centres as public transport is expected to be off the road on the second day of the statewide Jharkhand bandh.

While pro-domicile groups have threatened to prevent, if necessary physically, candidates from approaching the centres, the sympathisers of the Bihar examinees have vowed to ensure a safe passage for them.

These sympathisers are mostly settlers from Bihar who came to Jharkhand during the recent past. They tried to give a fight to the adivasi-moolvasi groups in the urban pockets during the domicile disturbances of July last year.

The temporary “diaspora” from Bihar is facing a harrowing time because of lack of lodging arrangements in the capital and other parts of the state.

The threats issued by the pro-domicile groups have not dampened their spirits because, as one of them put it, “it is a struggle for existence, a fight for bread”.

But a worker of the Adivasi Moolvasi Janadhikar Manch countered: “It can be a struggle for existence for them. But they are eating into what is rightfully ours. If people from Bihar were to get the jobs in the new state, what was the point in creating Jharkhand. The domination of colonising Bihar has been continuing in this region since ages and the teacher tests indicate there is no end to it.”

Shailesh Sharma, who has come from Patna, said: “We are going through a lot of trouble. The whole system is faulty. Today is the last day and we still have not got our admit cards. For the last three days, I am living in front of a photocopier shop. I have never gone through so much of pain before.”

Vijay Kishore of Purnea pointed out: “Today and tomorrow being a bandh, we don’t know what is going to happen. Most of the eateries of the city are closed, and there is a shortage of food today. We have purchased some groceries but that is not enough. Cooking food is very difficult.”

All hotels and dharmashalas are packed with examinees. Narendra Singh of Jokhi Ram Dharmashala said: “We are full since last week. We have sent back hundreds of examinees.”

Among the examinees, women too have been forced to stay in the open. Geeta Mishra of Nawada said: “The condition is pathetic. We were unable to find any hotel and we are forced to stay under the sky. The heat and the suffocation has become unbearable.”

Gauri Shankar of Munger broke down. “I had got my admit card and was going towards my hotel. All of a sudden I was confronted by a group who asked me to show my admit card. As I gave it to them, they tore it into pieces. As I resisted, they caught hold of me and threatened to kill me.”