Gorkhaland Personnel - Scanner on jobs for GLP cadres

Darjeeling, Nov. 11.TT: The GTA’s decision to appoint 34 members of the Gorkhaland Personnel in the information and cultural department has come under the scanner with allegations flying that the recruitment was conducted in violation of rules.

While 29 GLP members have been appointed in a brass band, the other five have been made drivers. Sources said their salaries would range between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000 a month.

The GLP is the lathi-wielding voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha with the purported purpose of controlling crowds at party programmes.

The People’s Forum, an organisation opposed to the Morcha, said the recruitment had been conducted without following proper rules. “We heard that some GLP members were appointed in the GTA, but none is aware of the selection process. We are pretty confident that the authorities had neither published advertisements in newspapers for filling up of the posts nor conducted interviews for the recruitment,” said Pravin Gurung, the general secretary of the forum.

Gurung claimed that the recruitment was in contravention of a state government order issued on April 23, 2010. The order vide Memo No 2966 – F (P) said henceforth no casual/daily rated workers would be engaged by the government. “Moreover, the Supreme Court had also passed a similar order on April 10, 2006,” he added.

Gurung has also filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking details of the appointment order, the advertisements that were published in newspapers for the posts and the financial approval of the state government for the recruitment. He filed the RTI plea in his capacity as the general secretary of the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Gorkhali Adivasi Welfare Society.

Binay Tamang, the GTA executive member in charge of the information and cultural department, denied the charge and said the 34 GLP members had been appointed according to the norms.

“No norms have been flouted. A walk-in interview was conducted on August 16 on the basis of which the GLP members were appointed. There has been no foul play,” he said.

It was, however, not immediately known from Tamang whether advertisements had been published in newspapers by the personnel and the administrative department of the GTA, which is in charge of recruitment. Tamang is also in charge of the personnel and administration department.

The executive member said advertisements had been issued in newspapers to recruit 12 supervisors and 146 security guards into the GTA and a walk in interview would be held on November 19.

Tamang said a six-member selection board headed by Lt. Col. (retd) Ramesh Allay, the deputy chief of the GTA, had also been formed by the GTA.

The absorption of the GLP cadres into the GTA has been a ticklish issue for the Morcha. The party claims that there are not less than 5,000 GLPs but many believe that the number would not be more than 2,000.

The Morcha also claims that each GLP member was being given a salary ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 each month.

The GLP comprising young boys and girls was formed in 2008 and they were trained by ex-servicemen.