A total of 2,772 gift items received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be auctioned from September 14, Culture Minister Prahlad Patel said on Wednesday. These gift items, which have been received by PM Modi in the last six months, will be put under the hammer online on the portal www.pmmementos.gov.in. The e-auction will end on October 3. The lowest base price of the gift item is Rs 200 and the highest is Rs 2.5 lakh. The proceeds from the auction will be used in Namami Gange Project.
The auction will include idols of Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, Veer Shivaji, Vivekananda, 576 shawls, 964 angavastram, 88 pagris and several other items. The gift items are currently on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
The ‘Namami Gange’ project was approved by Centre on May 13, 2015 as a comprehensive approach to rejuvenate the Ganga and all its tributaries under one umbrella by consolidating existing ongoing efforts.
It may be recalled that about 1,900 gifts received by PM Modi were auctioned in January 2019 and the funds raised by auction was used for Namami Gange Project. The PMO did not reveal how much funds were generated through the auction in January. The auction was organised at the National Gallery of Modern Art and a specially handcrafted wooden bike was auctioned for Rs 5 lakhs. A traditional ‘Horai’, which was given to PM Modi during a visit to Assam was auctioned for Rs 12 lakh, while a statuette of Gautam Buddha, which had a base price of Rs 4,000 went under the hammer for Rs 7 lakh.
It is to be noted that PM Modi, even as Chief Minister of Gujarat, used to auction mementos received by him, and the proceeds were used for the education of girl children.
Source: Zee News