At Vapi auction,Modi gifts fetch Rs 56 lakh

Gifts and mementos received by Chief Minister Narendra Modi were auctioned at Vapi in Valsad during the past three days,fetching Rs 56.66 lakh — the highest amount collected at such exhibitions that have also been organised at Vadodara and Rajkot.

The auction started on Wednesday at Vapi Industrial Association Hall. Over 1,107 items — shawls,scarves,turbans,posters,photographs,idols of gods and goddesses,bows and arrows,handicrafts,agricultural equipment,silverware and other metal items — were put up for auction with an offset value of Rs 1.31 crore by the district administration. The offset value of these items was kept 14 times higher than their original price to reach the target given to the administration. The money will be spent on the education of the girl child.

Sources said that out of the 1,107 items,482 found buyers. Among the costliest items was a chariot made of silver that was sold for Rs 1.12 lakh,while shawls were the maximum sold items. The costliest item was a silver statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and two cannons inside a small cabinet. Priced at Rs 27 lakh,it remained unsold.

Hundreds of people from villages of Valsad visited the exhibition,and among the bidders and buyers were many industrialists from Vapi.

The in-charge of the event and Mamlatdar of Pardi,S P Chaudhary,said,“We were given a target of Rs 1 crore and we achieved 50 per cent of it. The majority of the people who turned up at the exhibition were tribal villagers.”