Calcutta, Jan. 1: A group of policemen who broke away from the West Bengal Police Association in May 1969 and floated a separate outfit have decided to bury the hatchet.

The policemen split ties with the union to protest against a sit-in in the Assembly with bodies of three slain constables and then formed the Non-Gazetted Police Karmachari Samiti.

“We protested the manner in which the demonstration was organised inside the Assembly in 1969 to humiliate the then United Front government and launched our own outfit. Now we want to forget the past,” Samiti general secretary Muktipada Mandal said.

The general secretary of the West Bengal Police Association, Bimal Mishra, too, said that he wishes the policemen are united again.

“The time has come when we should all come under one umbrella to work more effectively. Besides, we can put more pressure on the government to realise our demands if we stand united,” he said.

Mishra, who has been in the force for more than 40 years, would be the “happiest” if the rival bodies merge.

At a conference of the Non-Gazetted Police Karmachari Samiti in early December, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also urged its members to join the parent body for the sake of better policing.

The ground for the reunion, it seems, is ready.

Representatives from the two unions took up the issue of merger when they called on director-general of police S.C. Avasthy at Writers’ Buildings recently.

“We will place the proposal during our meeting with the chief minister this month,” Mandal said.

The association, set up in 1920, has over 30,000 members, comprising policemen from the rank of constable to deputy superintendent of police.

The Samiti, banned by the Congress regime in 1972, got back its recognition after the Left Front came to power five years later. Said to be backed by the CPM, the body now has nearly 22,000 members, most of who are constables.

Inspector-general of police, law and order, Raj Kanojia said if the 50,000 policemen come under a single union, it would boost efficiency and help the government resolve their grievances.

Opposition leaders said the move was “a calculated one to garner support from all sections of policemen for the Left Front” in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

“The chief minister’s call for the merger of the two police unions and his promise to look into their demands is aimed at getting votes from policemen who are opposed to the CPM,” said Trinamul Congress’s Pankaj Banerjee.