Starting Tuesday, around 600 gifts presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be auctioned online to raise funds for the Ganga river cleaning initiative. These unique mementos include sports memorabilia from Paralympic medallists and a replica of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, with a combined base price of Rs 1.5 crore.

The highest-valued items in the auction include sports shoes and a signed cap from Paralympic medallists at the Paris Games, with a base price of Rs 8.26 lakh. The Ram Mandir replica holds a base price of Rs 5.5 lakh. The e-auction, accessible through the website pmmementos.gov.in, will run until October 2. Approximately 100 of the mementos are on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), where items such as cotton angavastrams, caps, shawls, and stoles start with a base price of Rs 600.

Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat commended the contributions of Paralympic medalists, whose items are part of the auction. For example, Ajeet Singh Yadav, a silver medalist in the F46 javelin event at the Paris Paralympics, contributed his sports shoes. Other notable items include spike shoes from high jumper Nishad Kumar, a silver medalist, and running shoes from Simran Sharma, a bronze medalist in athletics. A signed cap from Sharad Kumar, another high jumper, is also featured in the auction.

Sports equipment like a badminton racket from bronze winners Nithya Sre Sivan and Sukant Kadam, as well as a discus used by silver medalist Yogesh Khatuniya, are valued at Rs 5.5 lakh each.

Minister Shekhawat noted that Prime Minister Modi began the practice of auctioning his mementos as a way to "give back to the people." All proceeds from the auction will go toward the National Ganga Fund. Since the first auction in January 2019, over Rs 54 crore has been raised.

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