Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: Students of Utkal University today approached the city police to ask them to beef up security on their campus.

Students of the varsity and its law college asked for the existing police outpost located on campus to be upgraded and for its manpower to be increased.

“Outsiders still sneak into the campus easily,” said Ajaya Kumar Pani, a student.

“Criminals have been frequenting the varsity campus, especially at night. Incidents of theft and snatching have become common on the campus,” said Bismaya Kumar Stalin, another student.

The campus has a total of 7,000 students and 4,000 staff members. The outpost, which is almost defunct, has failed to ensure security to the campus insiders.

“The manpower of the outpost needs to be strengthened immediately. Regular patrolling should also start to put a check on criminal activities,” said Pabitra Mahapatra, another student.

Only two constables manned the police outpost on the campus, which was by and large insufficient, said another student.

A group of around 50 students today met police commissioner Sunil Kumar Ray and handed him over a memorandum with demands of renovating the outpost and posting at least 10 police personnel there, headed by a sub-inspector. The students also demanded PCR van patrolling on the campus.

A major brawl took place on the varsity campus on July 13 after two rival groups had clashed leaving seven persons, including four students, injured.

A number of vehicles were also damaged in the incident. The group members had lodged complaints against each other with Saheed Nagar police. Following the clash, a group of students had launched a five-day demonstration outside Raj Bhavan demanding better security.

Talking about the measures being taken for security of students and restricting entry of outsiders, the chairman of varsity’s postgraduate council, P.K. Mishra, said armed security guards had been deployed at the entrance while all gates, barring one, were kept closed to prevent the entry of outsiders.

“We also plan to make it compulsory for students to produce their identity cards at the entrance gate, hostels and library,” he said.