Bhubaneswar, April 28: A few students of Utkal University of Culture staged a demonstration today on their new campus at Madanpur near Jatni complaining lack of basic infrastructure at the varsity.

A group of about 30 students alleged that there was shortage of food and electricity. "Examination is around the corner and most of the time there is no electricity in the hostel. There is no canteen and we have to buy food from outside. We have complained a number of times about these issues," said Debidutt Satapthy, one of the demonstrators.

Varsity authorities claimed that the students who were not allowed to fill up the form for the upcoming semester took the agitation route.

"These students have secured less that 60 per cent in their last semester so they are not eligible to sit for the examination. They are making unnecessary demands and asking us to let them sit for the examination. They are creating such issues because we are not allowing them to take the examination," said registrar of the varsity Suman Das.

The students said they were shifted to the new campus during the middle of the session. This made it difficult for them to cope with their studies, they said. "We have asked the authorities to give us a chance this time," said a student.

The Utkal University of Culture shifted to its new campus in May last year after missing several deadlines for more than two years. The administration was shifted first and academic departments were transferred recently.

The state government has set the ball rolling to set up a research institute here almost three years after Odia got the classical language status. The Central Institute of Classical Odia will be established on the old campus of Utkal University of Culture in the city shortly.

Director of Central Institute of Indian Languages in Karnataka, D.G. Rao, visited the campus yesterday. A discussion with state government officials and litterateurs of the state was also held.

Once a language is declared classical, the state gets financial assistance for setting up a centre of excellence for study of the language.

"We have been writing to the central government to hasten the process. We are hopeful that the work to set up the centre will start shortly," said culture minister Manoranjan Panigrahy.

A detailed report will be sent to the ministry of human resource development, and once sanctioned, the state government will receive around Rs 100 crore for the centre.

"There is an urgent need to conduct research in linguistics and grammar, use of technology in developing the language and multi-dimensional lexicography. A separate centre to work on these areas is needed," said linguist Debi Prasanna Pattanayak.