The National Library. A Telegraph picture

A racket involving pilferage of rare periodicals from the National Library has come to light.

According to an FIR registered with Alipore police station, a section of employees has allegedly been smuggling out copies of the rare Bengali periodical Kallol, making photocopies and then selling them. Many of the original copies have gone missing.

The pilferage came to light last week when some library officials were checking the records. The matter was brought to the notice of librarian R. Ramachandran. Preliminary investigation proved that a month ago, some employees had given permission to nine readers to make photocopies of the periodicals, something they were not authorised to do. Even though the photocopies were meant to be made on the library premises, not a single precious periodical has since been returned to the library’s shelves.

“We were alerted about some rare periodicals going missing from the library last week and after checking the records, we found it to be true,” said Saibal Chakraborty, secretary of the National Library Staff Association. “A section of employees are involved in the racket. We have repeatedly alerted the authorities, but their lackadaisical approach has made things worse at the National Library,” he added.

This week, the cops stepped in. “We visited the library and spoke to some employees. The librarian has assured us that a departmental inquiry is on and the guilty will be punished,” said S. Majumdar, additional officer-in-charge of Alipore police station. “It’s a big racket. Some employees have been selling the photocopies of the periodicals in the market,” alleged an investigating officer.

Librarian Ramachandran, overseeing the affairs at the National Library since the retirement of director Sudhendu Mondal last Sunday, said: “I have got instructions from the ministry not to comment on the administrative matter. The problem will be investigated thoroughly once the new director takes charge.”