The second day of the Lalbaugcha Raja auction earned the mandal Rs 36.74 lakh from the sale of gold and silver items. Combined with Thursday’s bid worth Rs 16.39 lakh, the total collection in two days is Rs 53.13 lakh.
On Friday, mandal president Ashok Pawar said a golden modak weighing 103gm sold for Rs 3.55 lakh, a gold chain weighing 102gm went for Rs 3.20 lakh and a set of four bangles weighing 47gm in all were auctioned for Rs 1.30 lakh. Buyers picked up a silver mace weighing 465gm for Rs 59,000 and paid Rs 56,000 for a silver Ganesh idol.
Saturday is the last bid day when the most valuable items will be laid out. “There is a 50gm gold moorti of Lord Ganesh, which we had earlier mistaken as weighing 500gm, apart from a large silver garland and a big silver mace,” Pawar said. Friday’s downpour did not affect the turnout as devotees made the most of the Gandhi Jayanti holiday.
The GSB Seva mandal of King’s Circle collected Rs 7.81 crore this year during its five-day celebration. Spokesman Satish Nayak said, “We earned Rs 4.20 crore from receipt book collections, Rs 84 lakh from pandal advertising, Rs 61.28 lakh cash and Rs 5 lakh jewellery from the hundi.”
GSB Wadala earned Rs 5 crore, said president N N Pal.