Rumours spark 'diamond rush'

Tens of thousands of fortune- hunters set off a 'diamond rush' in Paritala village in the western part of Krishna district in search of rough gems lying on the bed of a dried-out lake.

Around 30,000 people have rushed to the Paritala Lake in Andhra Pradesh this week hoping to snap up diamonds apparently washed away from a nearby abandoned gem field, according to officials.

The lake, emptied by a prolonged dry spell, lies next to the abandoned Krishna diamond fields, source of the world-famous 186-carat Kohinoor diamond.

"Over a dozen people from our village managed to sell stones worth 100,000 to 200,000 rupees ($2,080 to $4,160) to these traders over the last few days," said Paritala resident Rajkumar Sambhaiah.

Another claimed: "More than 20,000 people dug the bed of the village pond for diamonds for three days. I was lucky to find two small diamonds and many precious stones. On Monday at least eight people sold diamonds for between Rs100,000 and Rs150,000."

Another Paritala resident, who refused to be named because diamond-hunting is illegal, said she made $14,580 dollars – a staggering sum in India – on a Paritala diamond. On Tuesday another woman from Paritala village said she had sold a 'diamond' for Rs700,000. She refused to divulge her name as she was afraid either local government officials or the police might take away her "God-sent wealth."

Krishna district police confirmed the diamond rush.

It is not known how the rumour spread, but Paritala soon turned into a frontier town full of diamond diggers and wild rumours.

Rumours spread fast and thick and spoke of traders arriving from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Mumbai and pitching their tents at Paritala and Kanchikacharla over three days before Tuesday and buying up stones for as much as a million rupees.

Villagers continued to arrive in cars, autorickshaws, buses and trucks from surrounding villages like Jaggaiahpet, Pendyala, Nandigama, Kanchikacharla, Ibrahimpatnam, Tiruvur and Chillakallu.

Only a handful of more rational villagers in Paritala, however, blamed the 'diamond rush' on the scanty rainfall and the fact that it was difficult to find work in the village. "This year the failure of monsoon and the drought-like condition has dried up the lake, making it easier for people to sift through the silt in its bed," Krishna district police chief Sandeep Shandilya said.

"This has attracted fortune-hunters by the thousands."

Diamond-hunting is banned under India's Treasure Trove Act and the police chief said he has sent a team of constables to cordon off the lake. "This is a protected area but it is almost impossible to guard it as it is not just one lake but a string of over half-a-dozen villages where diamonds are periodically found," police chief Shandilya said.

The Krishna fields, lying on a coastal area of the mineral-rich state, were abandoned about 200 years ago but local farmers occasionally throw up a diamond when ploughing fields.

By Wednesday, police enforced Section 144 preventing people from converging together in tiny groups and called for reinforcements from seven nearby village mandals to prevent a stampede.

The District Collector, B.R. Meena, confirmed that early on Wednesday more than 1,000 people gathered at the village pond looking for diamonds. He said people continued to pour in from nearby villages.

Frustrated by the police presence, villagers from the Khammam, Guntur and Prakasam districts complained they had come from far away only to be stopped by the police. One villager said: "I have come all the way from Prakasham district as I want to find wealth, but the police are creating obstacles."

Local government officials blamed the rush on a diamond survey done by an Australian firm in the area around Paritala and Chandarlapadu villages and the state mines and geology department because it had earlier declared Krishna district as a potential area for diamonds.