Mementos and souvenirs presented to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot went under the hammer here on Sunday for raising money, which will be paid as assistance to the families of five CRPF personnel from the State who were among the 40 killed in the Pulwama terror attack.
In the auction organised by Jaipur-based Bharat Seva Sansthan at the 'Veeranjali' programme at Mahaveer Digambar Jain School here, more than 350 mementos presented to Mr. Gehlot on different occasions were sold at prices ranging between ₹5,000 and ₹1 lakh.
Sansthan vice-president Rajiv Arora said ₹1.36 crore were generated from the auction. Mr. Gehlot had earlier given his mementos for auction for providing relief to the kin of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil war and the victims of 2004 tsunami.
ADVERTISEMENT
Representatives of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India handed over the keys of five flats to the families of the slain soldiers. The mementos displayed on tables for auction evinced a keen interest among the participants in the programme.
Mr. Gehlot said his government would make all possible efforts to help out the families of the soldiers who had laid down their lives while defending the country's borders. “In this difficult hour all of us are wholeheartedly supporting the families of martyrs,” he said.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the then Congress government had offered the “country's best package” to the families of 56 soldiers from the State who were killed during the Kargil war. “This time, we have increased the package and given ₹50 lakh each to the families of CRPF jawans,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT