Curious case of Indira Gandhi's 73 kgs silver locked in treasury for 50 years

The silver weighing 73 kgs of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is lying at Bijnor treasury since 1972,

New Delhi, Feb 08: For over 50 years now, the silver belongings of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been locked in a district treasury in Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh district. Nobody from Gandhi family has made claims on it and the attempts to empty by authorities have not been successful.

Curious case of Indira Gandhi's silver belonging

A senior official administration has thrown light at the story of Indira Gandhi's 73 kg silver lying within the vaults of the Bijnor treasury in Uttar Pradesh. The former PM had visited the under-construction Kalagarh Dam when the localities weighed her in silver and other articles, according to a report in a leading English daily.

"In 1972, the then PM Indira Gandhi had come to visit the under-construction Kalagarh Dam, which is currently located on the UP-Uttarakhand border. When she reached the place, local residents had weighed her in silver, and several other articles made of the precious metal were presented to her. She did not take it along with her and asked the then district magistrate to take care of it," The Times of India quoted district treasury officer Suraj Kumar as saying.

The report also claims that the current price of the 73 kg silver is about Rs 51 lakh. "Ever since, it has been lying in the treasury and there is no clear direction what to do with it," Kumar added.

Although the district administration had written to the Reserve Bank of India in 2002 to take over the belongings of Indira Gandhi, the central bank had refused to take it saying it "private property."

The local administration is willing to handed it over to Gandhi family. An official said, "The heavy box kept in a vault is checked regularly during the annual inspection but has never been opened as it is sealed. If things kept here are claimed by their owners, they can be handed over to them."

A senior Congressman named Dharamveer Singh, who had witnessed the event, went down the memory lane and said, "I have vivid memories of that event when a huge weighing balance was arranged and Indiraji stood on one end while silver bricks were placed on the other. She weighed 64kg but ecstatic locals wouldn't stop at that and continued to present her other silver items as well."

Kalagarh Dam, built with the purpose of hydroelectric power generation and irrigation, is an earth and rock-fill embankment dam built on Ramganga River which is located Jim Corbett National Park. Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited is the owner of this dam. The construction work of Ramganga dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1974.