London: Anil Agarwal, executive chairman of the London-listed metals and mining group Vedanta Resources, has "taken responsibility" for beautifying the Ganga as it passes through his city of birth - Patna.

This was revealed in London by Nitin Gadkari, India's minister for road transport & highways, shipping and water resources, river development & Ganga rejuvenation, who has had talks in the city with the British transport secretary, Chris Grayling.

Gadkari, who was a guest at a dinner hosted by the Indian Journalists' Association, said he was looking for "big" people with sentimental links to the Ganga and to India - by which he meant wealthy Indian businessmen in the UK.

Agarwal himself confirmed he would be associated with the project. "Shri Nitin Gadkari ji offered me to take up the beautification and maintenance of Ganga River front in Patna, the place of my birth. Shri Gadkariji is a visionary - for building a modern India, that is strongly attached to its rich culture and values. The Ganga rejuvenation project is one such example. I gladly accepted the offer and I will be happy to be associated with the prestigious project," he told The Telegraph.

Agarwal though hasn't yet disclosed the precise details of what he has promised Gadkari whom he invited to his home in London.

Agarwal, who was born on January 24, 1954, in Patna, has certainly come a long way since he established Vedanta in 1979.

"I grew up in Patna and went to a municipal school called Miller High School - (I'm from a) very modest background and lived till the age of 20-21 (in Patna)," he had earlier told this paper. "I started working with my father from the age of 16 - he was a small businessman making doors, windows, things like that."

He moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) to start his own metals business.

Agarwal and his wife, Kiran, who now live in some style in London, though they have to spend a fair amount of time in India, have a son, Agnivesh, and a daughter, Priya.

According to the UK's Asian Rich List, Agarwal's net wealth was valued earlier this year at £2.2 billion, placing him fourth behind the Hindujas, Lakshmi Mittal and the Arora brothers who are in retail.

But from a PR point of view, doing something environmentally positive in Patna would help him to defend himself against barbs from Left wing activists who have a full time job attacking him allegedly for deforestation.

Earlier this year Agarwal certainly impressed the South African journalist and broadcaster Alexander Hogg, editor-in-chief of Moneyweb, who said: "If all billionaires were like India's mining mogul Anil Agarwal, the world would be a far better place."

He described Agarwal's modus operandi as "a great example of how multinational business can and should be done in the new South Africa".