Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh human resources development minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s appealed to the students and parents that they must reach the exam centres at night or early morning to avoid inconvenience, kicking up a controversy.

He said the students and parents should understand the situation and start early to reach the centres on time. Answering a question, the minister said officially there is no grace time, but depending on the genuineness of the case, it is left to the coordinator at the centre to take a call to allow late comers or not.

The minister left for Visakhapatnam in the afternoon and released toll-free numbers — 1800 425 00007 and 1800 425 00002. Mr Rao said students facing difficulty in reaching exam centres can call up these numbers and the officials will attend to their calls.

The minister’s appeal to reach Eamcet centres at night did not go down well with the students and parents who lambasted him for failure to come to the rescue of the students in time of the RTC strike.

“How can he ask the students and parents to go to the exam centres the night before? Is it not the responsibility of the government to provide transport facility in view of the ongoing RTC strike?” asked Ramesh Kumar (name changed) scheduled to take the Eamcet engineering stream exam in a college near Medchal.

Several parents said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should take to task Mr Rao for making such appeals. “Does the minister expect us to make lodging, boarding and other arrangements at exam centres or in its vicinity by reaching the night before? It is irresponsible on the part of the minister to make such an appeal while shirking from the responsibility of providing transport for students to reach exam centres,” said a large number of parents.