Rly’s British-era cash boxes of Kakori fame to become history

LUCKNOW: The iconic cast iron cash boxes used by the Railways to ferry daily revenue for nearly a century are soon set to become history. The use of the heavy boxes, painted orange, in vogue for the past 93 years, will be discontinued from September 15 in Northern Railway’s Lucknow division.


The division on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the

State Bank of India

for collection by cash van and subsequent online transfer to the divisional headquarters.

The cast iron boxes, once looted by revolutionaries

Ram Prasad Bismil

, Ashfaq Ullah Khan and their associates in Kakori, will be put on display at the rail

museum

. British officials used to collect daily revenue from various railway stations of the then United Provinces for government treasury. The money was then dispatched to the divisional office in the heavy, highly secure cash boxes. During one such journey on August 9, 1925, when a train from Saharanpur to Lucknow neared Kakori station, Khan, Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi and their associates pulled the chain and looted the money which was then used to buy arms for freedom fighters.

The box had Rs 4,600 in a leather bag. The daring robbery was organised by Hindustan Republican Association.

This archaic system of ferrying cash continued even in the era of digital banking. On August 9, 2016, the 91st anniversary of the Kakori case, TOI had reported how the system had stood unchanged since the British era.

In a report on the anniversary of Kakori case on Aug 9, 2016, TOI had said that railways was planning to change the system to a digital one. Now, the tide has changed as divisional railway manager of Lucknow division Satish Kumar and SBI deputy general manager SK Porwal signed an MoU for it on Thursday.

“The revenue of NR Lucknow division has increased by many times since 1925. Everything is changing fast. The old process of revenue transfer is being stopped, but these cash boxes will be displayed in the museum,” said Kumar.