Hyderabad / Mancherial: Panic gripped students on the first day of the SSC examinations on Friday at Zilla Parishad High School (Boys) in Mancherial, as the centre received Hindi question paper instead of Telugu.

According to the officials, they were shocked when they found the Hindi language question paper instead of Telugu after opening a sealed cover containing question papers at the school. They sent back the question paper citing the swap. On receiving information about the incident, officials from the Education Department arrived at the centre and made enquiries. The Chief Superintendent and departmental officers searched other Trunk Boxes and found the bundle in another box of Day 2. Nearly one and a half hour had passed over the lapse. This was a lapse on the part of Chief Superintendent (who is also the custodian) and the Department Officer.

The examination was conducted from 11.30 am to 02.30 pm to compensate for the lost time and snacks were provided to the students. The Day-2 Question Paper which (Hindi) was not opened at all and it is still in sealed condition as received. A total of 9,189 students are appearing in 49 centres for the examinations in the district.

Expressing the displeasure over the incident, Kumar Deepak, Collector, Mancherial, instructed DEO S Yadaiah to investigate and to submit a report.

Safdar Ali Khan, Chief Superintendent and N R Padmja, Department Officer were placed under suspension due to the negligence of their duties. According to the order, Superintendent Ali and custodian officer Padmaja were placed under suspension for their role in sending Hindi language question papers instead of Telugu on the first day of annual examinations which began at the ZP high school for boys in the town. Due to their act, 240 students who had appeared for the exam were forced to wait for two hours.