Chandigarh, Feb. 20 -- The Anti-Drug Reward Policy introduced recently by the Punjab Police has begun yielding results, with the police claiming to be receiving vital inputs from the public about drug smuggling. Since September 1 last year, ever since the policy was introduced to provide monetary rewards to police personnel and informers, over Rs.1 crore reward money has been disbursed to 522 persons to date, according to data gathered from the Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF). ANTF officials said that in at least four cases, information from a "source" in the general public enabled the police to seize heroin weighing more than 5 kg. In one major case involving the recovery of over 43 kg of heroin by Amritsar rural police, along with four hand grenades, one pistol and 46 live rounds were recovered from two persons. The Village Defence Committee played a pivotal role in assisting the police in the recovery and arrests, and the "informer" from the committee was sanctioned Rs. 10 lakh. Police personnel involved in the operation were also awarded Rs. 5 lakh, as per information gathered from the ANTF. Notably, the policy was rolled out by the Bhagwant Singh Mann-led state government, under which rewards are granted for seizure of narcotics/psychotropic substances, successful investigation and prosecution, forfeiture of illegally acquired property, and preventive detention of offenders. To make people come forward to provide information, the state government has also linked rewards with various stages of investigation and prosecution. The policy covers two main categories. First are informers, whose information directly leads to seizures, forfeiture of property or preventive detention. Second are government officers/officials (police, prosecutors, etc.) who successfully conduct investigations, prosecutions, seizures or forfeiture of property, and take accused persons into preventive custody under the PIT-NDPS Act. The reward amount is decided on a case-to-case basis and varies depending on the quality of information, risks undertaken and contribution to law enforcement. As per policy, rewards are sanctioned at different stages, including after receipt of FSL confirmation of drugs, successful conviction, and forfeiture of illegally acquired properties. In another amendment, while earlier the cash reward to police personnel was linked to the purity of the substance seized, a lump-sum cash reward will now be given, provided the substance clears the purity test by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), a senior officer privy to the development said. Notably, in cases where a source helps the police to intercept drugs, the cash reward is being provided immediately after the recovery. "Earlier, the reward was sanctioned after clearance of purity test, now the rewards to source are given once the recovery is tested by the police team at the time of the seizure. For that we have provided testing kits to the district police and whenever any recovery is made, a purity test is conducted instantly by using kits. Testing quality of these kits are very high," said a senior officer. Testing using kits started in Punjab from September 1 last year....