MP: Doctors, security personnel deployed for stone-pelting festival in Chhindwara

A team of doctors and medical staff has been deployed for the ''Gotmar'' (stone pelting) festival, which began in a village of Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district on Saturday, an official said.

People have lost their lives and many were injured in the past during this traditional annual event held at Pandhurna in the district.

Security personnel have been deployed in the area and a team of more than five doctors has also been pressed into service for the event, additional superintendent of police (ASP) Sanjeev Uikey said.

Drones will be used and cameras will be installed to keep a watch over the venue, where section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been imposed, he said.

During the Gotmar festival, people from Sawargaon and Pandhurna villages gather on either side of Jaam river, and race to snatch a flag hoisted on a dead tree in the middle of the river while pelting stones at the other side.

The ritual was reportedly started around 300 years ago when a boy from Pandhurna abducted a girl from Sawargaon, and faced a volley of stones when he was crossing the river with her.

Villagers from Pandhurna came to his rescue, and he reached home safely with the girl, the legend goes.