DEHRADUN, March 3 -- Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj has described the new land law as an effective measure to halt land jihad and attempts to change the demography of Uttarakhand. In a statement issued on Saturday, he stated that the people of the state are standing with the government in this historic step to secure forest land.

Maharaj said that the Land Law Amendment Act brought by the government is intended to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the state. He claimed that after the implementation of this law, no land mafia can look at the lands of the state with ill intentions. The people of the state, especially those in the hills, were worried that outsiders had occupied lands on a large scale through illegal means. Chief Mini...