A tree stands with its branches chopped on the National Library campus. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Following complaints by senior officials, the National Library authorities on Tuesday instructed the agency employed to prune trees on the campus to stop work immediately.

The authorities have further instructed the agency not to remove the huge quantity of chopped-off wood stacked on the library premises till director Sudhendu Mandal returns from his Philippines tour on November 10.

The agency?s staff had started the pruning job on November 5, in accordance with an order issued on October 24 by library administrative officer Basudeb Sengupta.

A number of members of the National Library Staff Association (NLSA) have detected that the agency?s workers had unnecessarily hacked off branches to obtain costly wood.

?Violating the specifications in the order, they have cut off branches of a large number of trees to make a profit by selling off the costly wood. We have lodged a complaint regarding this matter with the library authorities. We have urged that the work be stopped immediately in view of the rule flout,? said Saibal Chakraborty, leader of NLSA.

Administrative officer Sengupta?s order had stated: ?The work of trimming and pruning is to be done on branches with girth up to one foot and not beyond that. The entire work should be carried out under the direct supervision of the garden superintendent of the library.?

NLSA members allege that the agency workers had cut off branches most of whose girth was more than one foot. Garden superintendent Sukanta Biswas, who holds a Ph.D in botany, reserved comment on the matter. ?I have been asked by the authorities not to make any statement to the media,? was all that he offered.

Senior administrative officer M. Kabashi also refused to speak about the development.

Sengupta?s October 24 order also specified that the agency would be required to pay Rs 500 to the library authorities for every Matador van of wood taken out of the campus. The agency was supposed to load 407 Matador vans with the cut-off branches.

?Are we to believe that a Matador van of wood will cost Rs 500 only?? a senior library official asked. He hinted that a number of library officials were hand-in-glove with the unscrupulous staff of the agency, who intended to take advantage of the tree-trim drive to make off with costly wood.