Land Bill not a BJP-Shiv Sena issue, says Uddhav

As the Modi Government appears determined to push ahead with the contentious Land Bill, BJP ally Shiv Sena today said it remained opposed to the amendments in the 2013 legislation.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said there was a lack of clarity on various aspects of the Bill, which has now been sent to a Parliamentary panel for further scrutiny.
"I am blunt in my views. This (the Bill) is not an issue of differences between Sena and BJP. Recently, compensation for drought-affected farmers sent by the Centre did not reach the beneficiaries because many did not have their names on 7/12 (an important land record document. Many did not have bank accounts and in joint families there was no mention regarding who will take the compensation," he said.

"Similarly, a provision of the Bill says compensation amount (in case of acquisition) has been increased four times and jobs will be given to project affected farmers.
"But there is no clarity on who will get the benefit. When industries are set up who will get jobs. Family members of farmers are not educated enough to get permanent jobs," he said.
The Sena chief was speaking at a function organised to honour senior journalist Dnyanesh Maharao with the R G Jadhav Award at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh.
The NDA Government, which had promulgated ordinance twice since December to make it easier to acquire land for infrastructure, rural projects as well as industrial corridors, early this week agreed to a 30-member panel examining the amendments after allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal joined opposition in Lok Sabha to oppose it.