Today, India is celebrating Engineers’ Day in honour of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya who is a scholar, an educationist and the most celebrated engineer in the country.
This is the 48th Engineers’ Day in India, held in the commemoration of Visvesvaraya’s 155th birth anniversary. Sir MV was best known for designing and building the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam om the Cauvery river in Mysore. He has played significant roles in many key projects of India.
He was a statesman, scholar, and also the Diwan of Mysore from the year 1912 to 1918. He has also received the Bharat Ratna in 1955 for his contribution to the national economy.
Born on 15 September 1861 in Muddenahalli village of Mysore, Visvesvaraya lost his father when he was just 15.
After the incident, he moved with his mother to Bangalore to stay with his maternal uncle. There he studied at Wesleyan Mission High School and later graduated from Central College. He studied Civil Engineering at the College of Science in Pune and passed from there ranking top in the engineering examination.
He began his career in the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay and was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission.
The block system of irrigation and water weir floodgates was introduced by Sir M. Visvesvaraya in Bombay. He designed and patented the automatic weir water floodgates that were first used in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune.
Similar gates were used to control water in Tagraa Dam in Gwalior, Krishnasagar dam in Mysore and other large storage dams.
After being appointed as the Chief Engineer at Hyderabad in 1909, he designed a flood protection system to protect the city from floods.
In the same year, Visvesvaraya joined the Mysore Service as Chief Engineer. After three years of his services as the Chief Engineer, Visvesvaraya was appointed as Diwan of the Mysore State by its ruler, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar.
He was knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V for his immense contribution to public welfare.
