Hike reward money: Excise department

To boost the detection of cases and strengthen the intelligence gathering network, the state excise department is proposing that the motivational allowance for staffers and secret fund for informers be increased from the present “paltry” sum. The present rates, finalised in 1976, allow the department to grant just Rs500 per case to officers for major detections, with the same amount being given to informers as a reward for tip-offs.

The state excise officials admit that these paltry rates inhibit the ability of the department to cultivate a strong network of informers who can tip them off about activities such as bootlegging, duplication and smuggling of duty-evaded liquor from other states. With Maharashtra following a high excise duty regime and the department being the third-highest contributor to the state's coffers, this bleeds the exchequer of revenue.

“We will request the state government to hike the rewards,” state excise commissioner V Radha told dna. She added that they were working on finalising a system wherein employees will be rewarded based on a certain percentage of the total seizure, subject to an upper limit. The department is also working on suggesting a similar system to create a secret fund for informers.

Radha pointed to how departments such as customs give out a certain percentage of the seizure as rewards. “We have no secret fund for informers,” she said, adding that these people risk their lives to tip them off.

“At present, the rewards are as good as nothing,” admitted a senior state excise official, adding that even in cases where the seizure or quantum of detection was huge, the department was empowered to give out just Rs500.

District collectors could grant a paltry Rs50 to excise staffers. “We are proposing a system wherein the reward will be based on the quantum (of seizure and action),” he revealed, stating that to reward informers, they were studying the system followed by other states and departments, such as the police.

Sources said IPS officer B G Shekhar, who was earlier the director of vigilance and enforcement in the state excise department, had suggested that the motivational rewards for officers be based on quality of detection, material seized and whether the case resulted in a conviction, with a similar system being put in place for informers.

“In cases that result in seizures running into huge amounts like Rs1.50 crore, informers seek rewards running into lakhs,” an official said.

Officials and staffers involved in detection of crimes such as bootlegging admit that at times they have to shell out from their own pockets to give the informers baksheesh (prize) after successful raids. Moreover, informers, many of whom are either part of or related to the underground liquor trade, with deep information of the system, help the department overcome its limitations, such as lack of adequate number of personnel.

Officials complain that at times some unscrupulous informers, when unable to extract a desired amount from officials, chose to first tip them off and later strike a deal with smugglers or bootleggers to help them evade the dragnet.

State excise commissioner V Radha said people could inform the department about illegal transport of liquor or bootlegging via WhatsApp on 8422001133. The identity of the complainant will be kept confidential.