BGPM Alleges Exploitation of Gorkhaland Personnel in GTA

Amitava Banerjee, EOI, Darjeeling, JAN 5, 2026: After a lull, the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP), a force raised by Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), is once again in the news, with Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha spokesperson Keshav Raj Pokhrel claiming that the GLP has faced extensive exploitation with the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Talking to media persons, Pokhrel alleged that the force, raised to add more power to the Gorkhaland agitation, was used as labourers and paid meagre wages, that too not even the sanctioned wages. GJM president Bimal Gurung, in 2007, had spearheaded a Gorkhaland agitation. The agitation resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the GJM, the state, and the Centre, paving the way for the formation of the GTA, a semi-autonomous body, administering the Kalimpong and Darjeeling Hills. During the agitation, the GJM had come up with the GLP.

“Many of the temporary employees of the DGHC had faced legal proceedings for having taken part in the agitation. With the formation of the GTA, they came under the pay band system. Likewise, the GLP youths had made a major contribution towards the Gorkhaland agitation. We wanted them to be accommodated as Clause 30 of the GTA MOA clearly stated that the GLP youth would be considered for recruitment in police, paramilitary forces, and the armed forces. When we started looking into how the GLP had been accommodated, we came across incriminating documents pointing at large-scale exploitation,” stated Pokhrel.

He alleged that the GLP were recruited as Khalasis/Roadmates/Eco-tourism task force, with the formation of GTA in the initial years of existence, supplied by one ‘Kanchenjung Manpower and Security Services.’ “Interestingly, there is no contact phone number, email, or name of the director on the letterhead except ‘Marwari Dharamshala, Judge Bazar, Darjeeling’ as the address.”

“We have come across many fund release orders of 2016, for the payment of these workers, many of whom are from the GLP to the Kanchenjunga Manpower and Security Services. Though on pen and paper the sanctioned amount is shown around Rs. 6500 per month, the GLP personnel claim that the highest they ever received was to the tune of around Rs. 3000 per month. While they were exploited, the scam ran into crores of rupees. People should find out who ran the Kanchenjunga Manpower and Security Agency,” stated Pokhrel.

Gurung and the GJM were at the helm of affairs in the GTA then. Floated on March 16, 2008, and trained by ex-servicemen, this GLP force had been dubbed as a voluntary force to be used for various purposes, including tourist assistance, social awareness, during natural calamities, and mainly to maintain discipline during GJM’s political programmes.

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post