Every house, cattle head and even trees have two words painted on it: For Sale. People are ready to move out the moment a deal is struck.
WARDHA: Dorli village lies 26 km from Sevagram Ashram in Wardha. Forty families, as many houses, 600 acres of agricultural land, 500 livestock, cart tracks and trees comprise the village.
Nothing shocking, except the banner that greets you on the outskirts of the village: Dorli village is up for sale. Every house, cattle head and even trees have two words painted on it: For Sale. People are ready to move out the moment a deal is struck.
Two years ago a Punjab village had upped itself for sale. Now, it is the turn of a village in Maharashtra, that too in the prosperous belt of Vidarbha. "We await a customer," announces Sujata Halule, member of the gram panchayat at Lon-Saoli in which Dorli falls. "Negotiations are now open."
Astonishing and rather unprecedented it is, but Dorli's 270-odd villagers unanimously arrived at the decision a day after the Vilasrao Deshmukh government announced its 'package' on December 8 for six districts of Vidarbha. The relief, note angry villagers, does not address their real problems or help anyone.
Dharmapal Jarunde, a vocal villager, says: "All of us came together to discuss what next? We unanimously decided: 'Let's sell our village, pay the dues and move out. It's better than committing suicide'."
All families, without an exception, are indebted to village society, with an average debt of Rs35,000. "We can't return it this year; we won't be able to pay it ever, looking at the falling cotton prices and rising input rates," Jarunde says. "Our children can't go to school; old can't afford health care; marriages are falling off; festivals are hard to celebrate. What do we do? Commit suicide? This is a much better option than that."
Adds another villager: "We'd better run a 'pan' shop which has some income assured, than going through this grind for nothing in return."
"If you are a vegetable vendor you can make at least Rs50 in a day. Here at the farm, do anything and you'd still end up in a loss," fumes Sukhdev Mohite. Vikun taka ekdacha and pada yethun baheer (Let's sell this village and move out once and for all)," remarks this veteran farmer.
Balveer Omkar, one of the village's poor marginal farmers, asks: "Why did the government promise us Rs2700 before elections? Why did it ask us to sow costly Bt-cotton seeds? Has the government gone insane now?"
"This is our protest against the government. We will sell the village, for, we can't run our families and coexist as defaulters or debtors," he says.
Take for instance the case of Kisan Halule. This veteran villager borrowed Rs27,000 in 1990 from the District Land Development Bank. Till date, his son Mohan has paid back Rs 60,000, but the bank recently served notice to him to pay back the remaining Rs 24,000.
"What do we do if the government also acts like the sahukars (moneylenders)? We won't return the money," says Halule. Jarunde says no farmer has sold cotton this year. "Everyone hoped the government would raise the prices looking at the failure of crop. It didn't. We have no other option but to sell our village," says Jarunde.
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