Gold rush at Godavari: Villagers comb river for valuables as water levels recede in Maharashtra's Paithan

A senior official from Paithan police station termed the phenomenon as routine and said that whenever the water level of the river drops, people arrive with small nets and sieves and venture into the river.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: For most people, a receding river is a sign of a dry spell, but for locals in Maharashtra's Paithan town, when water levels in the Godavari dip, it is time for them to head to the riverbank in search of gold.

Armed with sieves and nets, people from villages around the holy town in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar thronged the banks of the Godavari River on Monday, looking for valuables as the water receded.

The Godavari River has served as a place where grieving relatives perform final rituals for their loved ones and cast away jewellery, coins and other valuables that belonged to them.

With the sun beating down on them, many gathered on the riverbank and waded through waist-deep waters to look for lost treasures and precious valuables, which they considered gifts from the river.

A senior official from Paithan police station termed the phenomenon as "routine".

"Whenever the water level of the river drops, people arrive with small nets and sieves and venture into the river. They sieve the silt from the river bed in search of valuables," he said.

People believe that the holy river has given them a valuable object when they find something, the official said.