Bbhubaneswar: Utkal University authorities will approach the state government on Tuesday to reconsider its decision of allotting the varsity land for the second campus of Rama Devi Women's University.

The state government's recently decided to demarcate 30 acres of Utkal land for the second campus of the women's varsity.

"We have conducted a meeting with the Utkal varsity stakeholders. Pondering on its expansion plans, we have concluded that it would be difficult to accommodate another campus on the premises," said Utkal varsity vice-chancellor Soumendra Mohan Patnaik.

The Utkal campus witnessed continuous agitations and demonstrations a day after the state government had decided to form a committee to finalise the land on the Utkal campus for the women's varsity. The students had also blocked the national highway No. 16 and boycotted classes demanding withdrawal of the decision.

Even a group of Utkal students on Friday torched an ambulance parked in front of university vice-chancellor's office. They had also locked the administrative block as a mark of protest.

While normality returned to the varsity from February 3, one platoon of police had been deployed on the campus to maintain law and order.

The higher education department had in 2016 proposed the Utkal University to provide land for setting up the second campus of the women's varsity. Following student protest, the then vice-chancellor, Ashok Das, had rejected the proposal to allot land from its campus. Later, the Khurda district administration had identified 30 acres at Daspur for the project.

The university, set up in 1943, offers 68 courses, including the postgraduate ones in 27 subjects, on the campus spread over 397 acres with more than 3,000 students. But sources said more than 40 acres on the campus had been encroached upon.