Sops for Maoist ‘informers’

From daily-wage labourers to previous offenders, including school children, those who are ‘informers’ of the special police teams in Maoist-affected localities will be entitled to additional benefits and payments that would be on par with senior police officers.

With Maoists trying to recruit cadres afresh, the police have decided to hike the payments for informers to motivate them to provide bonafide information with regard to the movement of Maoists.

Senior police officers have proposed to enhance monthly payments of informers and their family members to `20,000 to `40,000 based on the inputs they share.

“The movement of the outlawed wings have gone down because of the tight vigil in the affected regions. They are trying to enter Telangana from different sides to recruit cadre. To prevent this, the special wings have been directed to hike emoluments of informers and offer additional benefits,” sources said.

A senior officer said that an informer system would help police probe cases and assist them in combating Maoists.

Post-Covid-19, informers have been seeking more benefits from police officials.

The special wings have decided to offer them payments on par with the salaries drawn by additional SPs and DSPs.

District police officers are encouraging youngsters, retired employees, orphanages and youth welfare associations in rural areas by issuing ID cards. Apart from the payments, the informers would also get government schemes benefits.

The special wings have noticed that outlawed Maoists have provided electrical devices to its informers to keep a tab on movements of police. While tracking the electrical devices, the police have taken measures to protect their informers as Maoists have killed a number of people accusing them of being police informers.