As the Metro Rail readies to gobble up a celebrated landmark — the All India Civil Services Coaching Centre in Anna Nagar — students of the last batch to clear the exam from the Anna Nagar premises, came together for a reunion on Monday. This will perhaps be the last such get-together in the building that has shaped the lives of hundreds of civil service aspirants belonging to the weaker sections of the society in the past few decades.
The building will be razed down for Metro Rail work after the construction of the new building is completed on the premises of the Kanchi Campus of the Anna Institute of Management on Greenways Road.
Hundreds of IAS officers posted in various parts of the country are products of the State Government-run coaching centre. Forty-seven students from the institute cracked the civil services exam this year. The aspirants belonging to weaker sections of society are selected through an entrance examination and given free accommodation and coaching at the institute.
Over 20 senior academicians and bureaucrats are part of the faculty here. “All the students who visited the coaching centre on Monday assured they would contribute towards guiding the next batch of students,” said Prem Kala Rani, principal of the institute.
Senthil Raj, a successful student, said many of them were saddened by the proposal for the demolition of the building but added that the new air-conditioned building on Greenways Road would also be a boon to civil service aspirants.
This year, the State Government increased the food allowance for students at its coaching centre from Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 2,000 per month. A stipend of Rs. 3,000 per month will be provided to those who clear the prelims this year.
The next batch of candidates selected for the civil services mains examination will undergo training in the new campus on Greenways Road in August.
