Click to play videoDorli (Vidarbha): The village in Dorli Vidarbha is up for sale.
Of the 63 families here, only 13 qualify for the government's loan waiver.
The rest have more than five acres of land and debt ranging from Rs 15,000 to 20,000.
None of them have the money to take up the finance minister's offer of a one-time settlement of loans. They feel selling the village is their only option.
“If somebody is ready to pay us a decent price, we are ready to sell our village today,” says Sarpanch, Dorli, Dharampal Hariom Jagrunde.
Also ready to sell his three-and-a-half acres of land, is Arun Chambare. Two years ago he took a loan, of RS 15,000 to grow cotton.
However, the crop failed and he defaulted on his loan. The following year when the bank refused to loan him more money he was forced to borrow Rs 20,000 from a moneylender.
But a drought meant he is now defaulted on that loan as well. While his bank loan has been waived, the moneylender has been threatening him.
"The moneylender told me the superintendent of police is his friend who will arrest me and beat me up,” says Arun.
Tired of this pathetic state of events, there is now a big ‘for sale’ sign right in the middle of the village.
Houses, animals, farms, the whole of Dorli village is for sale. In fact things here are so bad, the villagers say they have decided to give up farming and if they get a good price, sell the village and perhaps start life afresh.
The plight of Dorli village highlights how inadequate the government's loan waiver scheme has been for Vidharba, says experts.
Experts say for Vidharba's farmers to truly benefit, those with upto 25 acres of land, must have their loans waived.
As the region's farmers live on in hope, one village has given up and put itself on the block.
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