Punjab govt to reward those who provide information that lead to drugs recovery

Punjab on Wednesday announced a policy of rewarding those who provide information that lead to the recovery of drugs, with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh saying it will motivate people to play a proactive role in helping the government crackdown on smugglers.

The policy will recognise government servants, informers and sources for their role in providing inputs leading to the recovery of a substantial quantity of drugs and in the successful implementation of various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, said the state police chief Dinkar Gupta.

The quantum of reward for successful investigation, prosecution, forfeiture of illegally acquired property, preventive detention and other significant anti-drug work shall be decided on a case-to-case basis, he wa quoted as said in an official statement.

Underlining his government's zero-tolerance policy towards drugs, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who gave a go-ahead to the policy, said it is an important step towards motivating people to play a proactive role in helping the government in cracking down on drug smugglers and traffickers.

Gupta said that government officials would normally be eligible for 50 per cent of the maximum reward.

Rewards in excess of this limit may be considered only in cases where the official has exposed himself to a great personal hazard or displayed exemplary courage, commendable initiative or resourcefulness of an extraordinary nature or where his personal efforts have been mainly responsible for the detection of a case of seizure, he said.

The DGP said the reward is purely an ex gratia payment and cannot be claimed as a matter of right, and the decision of the competent authority to grant it would be final. Also, the reward should not be sanctioned for routine and normal nature of work and should be case-specific, he said. The reward for informers should be based on specificity and accuracy of information, risk and trouble undertaken apart from the nature of help rendered to law enforcement agencies, Gupta said In case of seizures, government officials would get the reward after receipt of a forensic report confirming the presence of an illicit drug. In case of an investigation, the reward would follow after conviction whereas, in case of a prosecution, the officials would be rewarded after conviction. The additional DGP of the Special Task Force can sanction a reward amount up to Rs 1 lakh while the sum in excess of Rs 1 lakh would be sanctioned by the DGP.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)