Inform about drugs, get cash reward, announces MHA

The Union Home Ministry has issued new guidelines for granting of rewards to informers and government officers whose information and actions lead to the seizures of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances, an official said on Tuesday.

The Ministry on Tuesday issued a list of narcotics and psychotropic substances on whose recovery the informer will get a cash reward, ranging from Rs 240 to 2.40 lakh, depending on the quantity of the seized drug.

On recovery of one kg cocaine, the informer will get Rs 2.40 lakh, the highest amount announced by the government on the seizure of all kinds of narcotic substances.

The Central government will give Rs 1.20 lakh on the recovery of one kg heroin, Rs 20,000 for the seizure of similar quantity of amphetamine and morphine base, Rs 10,000 for hashish oil, Rs 6,000 for opium, Rs 2,000 for hashish, Rs 600 for marijuana and Rs 240 for poppy straw.

The Ministry took the step to regulate the grant and payment of rewards to officers, informers and others by issuing a new set of guidelines on October 10.

As per this policy, an officer is eligible for a total of Rs 2,000,000 reward during his entire career and Rs 50,000 at a time.

"However, a maximum reward of Rs 200,000 may also be given to an individual in exceptional cases by the Apex Central Rewards Committee. Up to 50 per cent of the total admissible reward amount can be given at pre-trial stage if the test report from chemical lab turns positive," the new policy said.

The reward sanctioning authority should also consider some factors like accuracy of the information, degree of risk involved, extent and nature of the help rendered by the informer and whether the information also gave clues of the person involved in the drug trafficking racket, said the policy.

The Narcotics Control Bureau, which works under the Home Ministry, has been coordinating the process of reward proposal of other central and state agencies working in the field of drug interdiction.

--IANS

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