Israel offers help to clean up Ganga river

Israel has offered its expertise in water management to help India clean up the Ganga river, which looks doomed by pollution and over-exploitation, local daily The Hindu reported on Monday.

Israeli officials have met their counterparts in the Indian Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, headed by Uma Bharti, to offer help in water conservation and the Ganga cleaning program, said the report.

A delegation of experts from Israel will tour India in August to assess the areas of Ganga cleaning.

Israel has also offered to streamline the water management and distribution services to help India save water and improve water utilities systems, according to the report.

"The advantage we have is that we have a wide range of solutions for problems, there are specific problems in different states and our experts have solutions. We are pushing for more government-to-government agreements," the spokesperson of the Israeli Embassy, Ohad Horsandi, was quoted as saying.

Israel's Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon recently called on Indian Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu to offer his country's assistance in water management to meet the challenge of water scarcity in the burgeoning urban areas, said the report. Endi