Panna woman finds 4.39 carat diamond
| Date :29-Jul-2022 |
Bhavana ‘Aprajita’ Shukla
An economically weak woman in Panna district hit the jackpot when she stumbled upon a 4.5 carat diamond.
The poor tribal woman had gone to the forest to fetch woods to build fire at home for cooking; while she was way home she found the precious diamond. She has deposited it to the diamond office. The estimated price of this diamond, is almost Rs 20 lakh, as officials told The Hitavada over phone.
According to them, Genda Bai, a resident of ward number 27 Purshottam Pur of Panna Nagar, had gone to collect forest wood behind the jail on Monday morning on July 25 where she saw a shining stone on the way. After picking it she came home and told it to her husband. However, her husband and wife could not identify the shining stone and they kept it in their possession for two days, on Wednesday morning, the woman along with her husband reached the diamond office and contacted the officials directly.
The woman showed the diamond connoisseur Anupam Singh the shining stone, who later confirmed it a precious and good quality diamond.
It has been deposited in the diamond office. The officials said the diamond would be placed in next auction and after deducting 12 percent royalty and 1 percent tax the rest of the amount will be deposited in the women’s bank account.
The woman has said it would now be easier for her to find a groom for her daughter who has attended marriageable age. Also; she would get her depilated house repaired. The woman and her husband are labourers and are economically weaker. They have four sons and two daughters. Both the daughters have attained marriageable age, she said. Farmers, tribal people and labourers often find diamonds in Panna diamond mines. More often they find them on shallow mines. However there were incidences when such diamonds go missing without a trace. A gooseberry-sized diamond thought to be worth Rs 50 crore has disappeared from Panna, triggering whodunit theories. The then state minister and local MLA Kusum Mehedele had reportedly written to the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (then) alleging foul play.
The minister has mentioned the Rs 50-crore estimate that, if confirmed, will make the diamond one of the most precious to have disappeared in recent memory. The diamond, according to the information was 80-carat in weight.
The mines are managed by the Centre-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC). Located in the State’s north-east and 250 km from Bhopal, Panna has over 550 open-pit shallow diamond mines.
An 8x8 square metre uncovered mine - almost as big as a large crater - can be leased for more than Rs 250 annually from the NMDC on the condition the diamonds unearthed are deposited with the authorities. These are later auctioned and the lease-holder given a fraction of the amount as profit.