Mumbai: From tracking suspected cannabis cultivation with digital crop surveys and drones to checking cargo containers at ports and scrutinising buyers of precursor chemicals, Maharashtra is putting nearly a dozen government departments on the anti-drug front as it sets a 2029 deadline to make the state drug-free.
The multi-department plan includes revenue, agriculture, forests, ports, transport, industry, education and health into a coordinated anti-narcotics framework, with the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) acting as the key coordinating agency. The initiative follows a series of raids on clandestine units allegedly manufacturing MDMA in Maharashtra and other states over the past year. Locations targeted include Sangli, Karjat and Akola in Maharashtra, besides Bhopal, Mysore and Hyderabad. The state is also tightening its watch on the chemicals used to manufacture synthetic drugs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and industries department have been directed to monitor the movement, storage and use of precursor chemicals and prevent their diversion for illegal drug manufacture. The state’s drug-free campaign was also discussed during Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah during Shah’s two-day Mumbai visit.
Government data shows that drugs worth ₹ 411 crore and assets valued at ₹ 256 crore had been seized in police operations by May 2026.
In a first, the government has moved beyond a conventional police-led crackdown by assigning specific anti-narcotics responsibilities to nearly a dozen departments under a common “Whole-of-Government Approach”. “The move effectively brings agricultural and forest surveillance into the state’s anti-drug enforcement architecture, potentially allowing authorities to identify cultivation before crops can be harvested,” said a senior home official. A senior government official said “The Union home minister has assured that he will hold a day-long meeting with the chief minister and officials from all the concerned agencies.”
