The retirees of West Central Railway (WCR) at Bhopal are heartbroken on the gift coins, which were advertised as being 99.9 percent pure silver, turn out to contain only 0.23 percent silver- cheap alloys that are being passed as wealth. These 10g and 20g pieces had official engravings and plaques, and were given out every year to hundreds of people during emotional partings as decades of service on the rail became attached to them. The jeweler to suspicious employees pensioners last month revealed the scandal, forcing up anger about the lapses in procurement and seeking vengeance of the Indian Railways.
Cherished Custom Crushed
The tradition of giving silver coins to retiring loco pilots, guards, clerks and supervisors of Indian Railways after 30-40 years of service presents very low pensions to them alongside the coin. This was increased with ceremonies matching coins to milestone plaques by Bhopal WCR. They were viewed by the recipients as heirlooms or resale buffers of Rs 800-1500 each. However, 2022-2025 batches denoted problems; feather-light weight, rapid tarnish, magnetic pull implying steel. The certified tests of a 2024 cohort of retirees showed consistent fakery in samples.
Assay Horror: Barely Silver
Close metallographic examination showed packing with 10g coins containing as little pure silver (0.23%), flash-plated on a copper-nickel foundation- no BIS hallmarks or assays. True 99.9% equivalents sparkle, counterfeits crumble. More than 5,000 have circulated since 2022, sucking away lakhs in padded bills of the vendors as pensioners struggle with inflation. Our sweat their scams, said one of their testers, and this was the case with several labs in Bhopal.
Pensioners’ Raw Pain
Agony was expressed by Ramesh Shukla, 2023 loco pilot retiree: 35 years of 18-hour hauling in monsoons, wedding-gift junk? Widows, stashing money on the futures of daughters, were the worst hit. FakeRailwayCoins was a national trend, and it was inundated with requests and scans. Market loss of collective Rs 50 lakh hurts 1.4 crore pensioners, reminding of 2024 Southern Railway medal rackets. Victims insist on actual silver swaps or cash parity, and not platitudes.
Tender Tampering Suspected
Whistle blowers lament fixed e-tenders that bypass competition, give Delhi-Mumbai companies under the carpet. Lack of bid logs is a source of officer collusion. Bhopal DRM termed it as vendor slip, arranging stock audits and 90-day replacement, unions sneer, citing grievance backlogs. Similarities to 2023 toolkit frauds highlight 68,000km supply chain rot on millions of tracks per day.
Union Warpath Builds
ITarsi AIRF-NFIR chiefs held a rally and planned January 18 dharnas at Bhopal station. Final offer: CBI probe, police suspensions, blacklists, hallmark requirements by January 20 -or rail roko turns up. Thunderbolt leader Rajendra Sharma shook his head at the thought of it: Railways betrayed its family. Bhopal-Itarsi upheavals are dangerous because they will enhance the voice of the retirees who have a united voice that no one has heard in the Delhi board rooms.
WCR’s Tepid Reply
Official note coped up lapses, isolated the supplier and promised to trace the recipients as well as SOPs with third-party checks. There is a suspicion about the execution because of delays in medical bills. MP High Court PILs are prepared by lawyers to subject to forensic investigation, possible graft webs. Mumbai-Kolkata pensioners nationwide test giveaways, fearing imitative artists.
Systemic Fixes Urgent
Whistleblower shields, blockchain tenders, SPMCIL centralized minting, experts push. This violates morale in labour intensive work that is prone to strikes, technological transitions. More than rupees, it is lost honor–trackside labor in place of plate-glass lying. Reforms should be in proportion to rail: open, provable, beyond irony.
The coin conundrum of Bhopal puts Railways to the test. The deadline of unions approaches; assessments increase. Merrybiles, the workhouses of rails, deserve pure honor–not 0.23% disgrace. Rapid calculation binds relationships that have been cultivated throughout a lifetime. True silver will shine forever; cheat, once counterfeited, must be recast.
