Morcha to revive GLP

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong, June 19: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will soon revive its volunteer force, Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP), purportedly to protect the people from alleged atrocities of police.

Col. (Retd.) Ramesh Allay, the deputy chief executive of the GTA and a senior Morcha leader, said today that the GLP had been lying dormant since the formation of the GTA, but they would now be put on active mode.

"We had about 13,000 volunteers last time. Many of them have moved on in life. We will carry out fresh recruitments and revive the GLP with a strength of about 5,000 volunteers," he said.

Allay said the decision to revive the GLP was taken in the light of the alleged police atrocities on innocent people in the hills.

"The Bengal government has been committing untold atrocities on our people. It has been killing our people. The police and the army should be used to protect the people, and not kill them. We will now show the state government how to protect the people," he said.

The Morcha had first raised the GLP in August 2008. The volunteers were trained by ex-servicemen. The party had then said the GLP would supervise crowds at public meetings and other party events but during the 2008-2011 agitation, the cadres had also indulged in moral policing such as curbing the sale of illicit liquor in the hills.

Allay said like last time, the GLP volunteers would be trained by ex-servicemen. "The main role of the GLP will be to protect the people from police atrocities. They will not indulge in violence. They, instead, will prevent violence from taking place. It is being revived to maintain democracy in the hills," he said.

The GLP, Allay said, would also be used to protect Morcha president Bimal Gurung, whose security had been removed by the state government.