Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel visited the National Gallery of Modern Art on Thursday to review the third round of e-auction of prestigious and memorable gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The e-auction is being held from September 17 to October 7 through the web portal www.pmmementos.gov.in.
As per an official statement, in this round of e-auctions, around 1,348 mementos will be e-auctioned. The mementos include the equipment gifted to the Prime Minister by winners of the Tokyo Paralympic 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic 2020.
It further stated that Narendra Modi is the first-ever Prime Minister of India, who has decided to auction all the gifts he receives for a noble cause of conserving the lifeline of the country- the river Ganges through 'Namami Gange.'
Patel, in a statement, said that the e-auction provides an opportunity to the general public to possess the invaluable memorabilia gifted to the Prime Minister while also contributing to the cause of preserving the holy river Ganga. He thanked the Prime Minister for this innovative and noble initiative.
Javelin used by gold medalist Sumit Antil in the Tokyo Paralympic 2020 and the javelin used by Neeraj Chopra in the Tokyo Olympic 2020 are the items with the highest base price at Rs 1 crore each. The lowest-priced item is a small sized decorative elephant for Rs 200.
The badminton racket autographed by Krishna Nagar, Gold Medallist in Paralympics, is also in the bid.
Also, there is a Table Tennis racket autographed by Bhavina Patel, Silver Medallist, Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
According to an official release, proceeds from the e-auction shall go to the Namami Gange Mission aimed at conserving and rejuvenating Ganga.
The PM has often described Ganga as a symbol of the country's cultural glory and faith, and that from the point of the river's origin at Gaumukh in Uttarakhand to where it merged with the sea in West Bengal, the mighty river enriched the lives of half of the country's population.
( With inputs from ANI )
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