The javelin used by Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra received the highest bid in the auction of gifts given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that started on September 17.
The auction was scheduled to end on Thursday, however, there were still some items out of the 1,348 mementos that were yet to be sold. A Culture Ministry official said bidding on some items was on as of Thursday night, but bidding on most items, including the sports gear used by Olympic and Paralympic athletes, had been closed in the evening.
Gifts to Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Many items in e-auction find no takers
In a statement, the Ministry said over 8,600 bids were received during the e-auction on pmmementos.gov.in.
“The maximum number of bids were received by the sculpture of Sardar Patel (140 bids), wooden Ganesha (117 bids), memento of Pune metro line (104 bids) and memento of Victory flame (98 bids). The favourite picks in terms of the highest bid value were Neeraj Chopra’s javelin (₹1.5 crore), autographed fence of Bhavani Devi (₹1.25 crore), Sumit Antil’s javelin (₹1.002 crore), Angavastra autographed by the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic contingent (₹1 crore) and Lovlina Borgohain’s boxing gloves (₹91 lakh),” the Ministry said.
The proceeds of the auction would go towards the Namami Gange Mission to rejuvenate the Ganga.
