Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has ordered intensified and continuous monitoring of government revenue land to prevent illegal ganja cultivation, particularly in six districts identified as vulnerable to such activities.
Additional Chief Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management Department Arabinda Kumar Padhee has directed the Collectors of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Kandhamal, Boudh and Gajapati to ensure strict surveillance and coordinated action at the field level.
The directive comes as the 2026-27 crop season has begun, raising concerns that ganja growers may return to government land where illegal cultivation was destroyed during the previous season.
During the ganja destruction drive in the 2025-26 crop season, Odisha Police destroyed illegal ganja plantations spread across 36,508.792 acres in 1,631 GPS-mapped plots under 41 police station jurisdictions across the six districts. Of this area, 6,632.197 acres were identified as government revenue land.
The Police department has also provided GPS coordinates of locations where illegal ganja cultivation was destroyed between November 2025 and March 2026. The Revenue Department has instructed field officials to use this data for systematic and continuous monitoring of the identified plots.
Officials have been cautioned that illegal ganja cultivators, particularly in remote and inaccessible areas, have a tendency to return to the same government land every year. Revenue officials have therefore been directed to pay special attention to previously cleared areas and prevent their reuse for illegal cultivation.
Tehsildars, Additional Tehsildars, Revenue Inspectors (RIs) and Revenue Supervisors in the six districts have been asked to work in coordination and maintain constant surveillance over government revenue land where illegal cultivation was previously detected and destroyed.
Field officials have also been instructed to keep plot- and village-wise details of such land, along with their GPS coordinates, ready for prompt action. If illegal ganja cultivation is detected again on government revenue land, the concerned officials must immediately inform the local police station, the Special Task Force (STF) or the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF).
The Revenue Secretary has further directed the district administrations to ensure immediate communication with law enforcement agencies for necessary legal action under Section 47 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
The Collectors have been asked to establish an appropriate internal reporting mechanism at the district level so that information regarding illegal cultivation reaches enforcement agencies without delay. They have also been directed to maintain close coordination with the local police administration and ensure strict compliance with the instructions.
The government has issued a strong warning against any involvement of revenue officials in facilitating illegal ganja cultivation. Dr Padhee said that strict action would be taken against any revenue official found assisting ganja cultivation mafias or individuals involved in the illegal activity.
The intensified surveillance is aimed at preventing the recurrence of illegal cultivation on government land and strengthening coordination between the Revenue Department and law enforcement agencies in the six identified districts.