NEW DELHI: The culture ministry has put in a multi-layered mechanism in place to prevent ‘non-serious’ or ‘bogus’ bidders from participating and quoting exceptionally high prices for souvenirs in the fourth edition of e-auction of mementoes presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi starting Saturday, coinciding with his birthday.
The government targets to earn Rs 2.5 crore from the auctioning. The funds raised through the auction will contribute to Namami Gange Programme, the flagship project for the conservation and rejuvenation of Ganga.
The officials said that this year Aadhaar — 12-digit unique identity number — has been made mandatory to bid for any article.
Repeated bidding for an article by the same participant has also been prohibited. The ministry has also fixed a ceiling price for each object up for sale.
Union culture and tourism minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday said that the ministry is launching the auction with new norms to make the entire process transparent and only to encourage genuine buyers.
“Last year, some enthusiastic youths quoted exceptionally high prices — 250-500 per cent of the base and even more. But in the end, they didn’t turn up. Given the scenario, therefore, to bring transparency in the process and attract genuine bidders, news norms have been introduced; uploaded on the website.