Shiv Sena abstained from voting on Land Bill

The Narendra Modi government faced resistance from within to the Land Acquisition bill with ally Shiv Sena abstaining from voting on it in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The government's move to introduce nine amendments to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill has apparently not satisfied the Shiv Sena.

Last week, the Shiv Sena had skipped the meeting of Parliamentarians of the NDA on the bill, which was dubbed as anti-farmer by the Opposition and farmers' organisations. The Shiv Sena wanted the government to address the concerns on the consent clause. The ordinance had done away with the consent clause for acquiring land for five areas-- industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence. The government's amendments include ceiling on land acquisition in industrial corridors and limiting the industrial corridor to one km on both sides of highways and railway lines. There 18 Shiv Sena MPs in Lok Sabha and three in Rajya Sabha.

The land acquisition bill passed by the Congress-led UPA mandated that developers get consent of up to 80 per cent of people whose land is acquired for private projects and 70 per cent for PPP projects.

Sena's decision is significant at a time when almost the entire opposition is ranged against the controversial legislation which the Congress and other parties are accusing to be "pro-corporate" and "anti-farmers".