Closing date of e-auction of mementos gifted to PM Modi extended till October 12

The closing date of an online auction of over 1,200 items, including models of the upcoming Ram temple in Ayodhya and sporting memorabilia of Commonwealth Games medallists, gifted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been extended to October 12.

The e-auction that began on September 17 was earlier scheduled to end on October 2.

"The last date for the e-auction of PM's gifts has been extended to October 12," a Culture Ministry official said.

The ministry also tweeted to announce the extension of the last date.

At a press conference here on Saturday 16, Reddy had said, a statue of Lord Ganesha, a trident, models of the upcoming Shri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, will also be part of the e-auction of gifts and mementos given to PM Modi, proceeds of which will go the Namami Gange Mission.

A black model statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which was gifted to Modi in April by sculptor Arun Yogiraj, is also part of the auction.

Yogiraj and his team, had sculpted the monolithic 28-ft statue of Netaji, made of telephone black granite stone, recently unveiled by the Prime Minister at India Gate. The grand statue sits in a historic canopy facing the war memorial arch.

Twenty-five new sporting memorabilia gifted to the Prime Minister by various sportspersons are part of the auction, a senior official of the Culture Ministry had earlier said.

"These sportspersons include CWG 2022 medallists, those who took part in Paralympic Games 2022, Thomas Cup 2022. Many sportspersons who brought laurels for India at the latest Commonwealth Games have gifted the sporting equipment they had played with to win medals. These will be part of the auction," Reddy had said.

The CWG 2022 was held in Birmingham, the UK, where many Indian sportspersons shone with their performances, winning 61 medals in total.

Some of the gifts are on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art here. Many noted personalities, artists, singers like Mohit Chauhan have visited the gallery to see the displayed items which are under auction.