Hundreds of fishermen, including women and children, have been in a “gold rush” on the beaches of Kakinada in the Godavari district of eastern Andhra Pradesh for the past two days.
Facing heavy rains and cold weather, these people, mostly from the Uppada and Suradapeta villages of the U Kothapalli block, have been sifting through the sand on the beach in hopes of finding gold grains and pearls that might have arrived. to the coast due to the large tidal waves caused by the recent cyclone Nivar. .
“According to our information, four or five fishermen who reached the seashore on Friday morning found some gold beads in the sand and they were worth a few hundred rupees. Before long, the news spread like wildfire and villagers began flocking to the beach in search of grains and gold beads, ”U Kothapalli Deputy Police Inspector B Lova Raju told the Hindustan Times.
Holding umbrellas, the villagers searched along Uppada Beach and sifted the sand with fishing nets, combs, and even clothing. “However, few people were lucky enough to find them. But the villagers have not lost hope, ”said the SI.
When asked how the gold beads or grains were washed ashore, Raju said that some houses and a couple of ancient temples on the shoreline had been washed away during the heavy rains of the last month and some of them may have lost small pieces of gold.
“It is also common for people who come to the nearby pilgrimage centers to leave some small pieces of gold in the sea while taking holy baths. During the last Cyclone Nivar, some of these small gold objects could have washed ashore in tidal waves, ”said Raju.
He said that if there had been large pieces of gold, the tax authorities would have been in action by now. “It’s not exactly the sea throwing gold onto the shore. They are tiny pieces that would hardly fetch you a couple of thousand rupees. However, the police have been on the alert, ”said the SI.
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