Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Saturday inaugurated an exhibition-cum-e-auction of gifts received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last one year to raise funds for the Centre's Namami Gange Project. More than 2,700 mementos, including shawls, pagris and jackets, at the National Gallery of Modern Art will be auctioned on pmmementos.gov.in from Saturday till October 3.

Patel said around 500 mementos are presently on display entitled "Smriti Chinh" for the people at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) from 11 am till 8 pm.

"The displayed mementos will be changed every week. The gift items including paintings, memento, sculptures, shawls, pagri, jackets and traditional musical instruments etc are displayed artistically in the administrative wing of the NGMA," he said.

The lowest base price of the mementos is Rs 200 and the highest is Rs 2.5 lakh, Patel said.

Modi himself lauded the effort and urged people to participate.

"Continuing a practice I have always believed in! All those gifts and mementos I have received in the last one year would be getting auctioned starting today till 3rd October. These mementoes would be on display at the NGMA near India Gate in Delhi," the prime minister tweeted tagging the link to the e-auction website.

The union minister said that a letter will be sent from the Government of India to top 20 highest bidders complimenting them for their contribution towards the Namami Gange Project. Patel said Modi is the first ever prime minister of India "who has decided to auction all the gifts he receives for a noble cause of conserving the lifeline of the country".

The proceeds from the auction will be used towards the conservation and preservation of the Ganga under the Namami Gange project. Mementos include 576 shawls, 964 angavastram, 88 pagris and various jackets portraying the diversified and colourful culture of the country. The last such auction was held in January this year.