Darjeeling, June 22: The rain was coming down in relentless grey sheets but for hundreds of young boys and girls the call of duty was stronger.

The youngsters today responded to an appeal by the Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha for voluntary services, queuing up to enrol as members of a special unit called the Gorkhaland Personnel.

“I am so excited that I decided to enrol myself,” Devika Pradhan, who has just cleared her Higher Secondary, trilled.

“We want to do something for the cause of statehood,” said Pravesh Rai, friend Geeta Yadav in tow.

The job will primarily be to ensure that “anti-social” elements do not infiltrate the GJM, a co-ordinator of today’s drive said. They will also join the Morcha’s public programmes and protests.

“This is not an armed force. The members will only be given a pen and a book but they will ensure that no antisocial elements get into our party. They will also provide security to our leaders,” Binay Tamang said.

“We have learnt that some picketers are going about their jobs drunk and harassing people. Once these youngsters are deployed, they will do all the picketing jobs. They will work like the RSS.”

The volunteers — single girls aged 17-24 and boys aged 18-30 — were put through a screening process. If they met the height requirements — 5ft for girls and 5ft2in for boys — they were made to run for two or four minutes, depending on gender. All volunteers had to come with Class VIII pass certificates, character certificates issued by local Morcha leaders and proofs of residence.

“We will hold similar drivers in Kalimpong, Kurseong, Mirik, Dooars and Siliguri over one month. The volunteers will then be sent call letters and trained for six weeks,” Tamang said.

The training will focus on spoken English, Hindi and Bengali, HIV/AIDS awareness, traffic management, the CrPC and IPC, handling of victims of substance abuse and tourists, he added. A total of 2,000 volunteers will be recruited.