Every year September 15th is celebrated as Engineer’s day all across India in honour of Sir Mokshgundam Visvesvaraya. Sir Mokshgundam Visvesvaraya (popularly known as Sir MV) is inarguably considered as the greatest engineer of India. He was also an eminent scholar and statesman. Born into a Brahmin family in rural areas of erstwhile Mysore state (now Karnataka), he lost his father at an early age of 12. Facing various difficulties during his childhood, he persevered to get his education and passed high school and B.A. from Bangalore. He studied Civil Engineering from College of Engineering, Pune.
After his graduation in 1883, he worked as an Assistant Engineer in PWD, Mumbai and then joined Indian Irrigation Commission upon invitation where he gave his distinguished service. After that, he worked as a Chief engineer in Mysore state and then became Diwan of Mysore state until 1918.
His stint as a civil engineer was remarkable. He implemented an intricate system of irrigation in Deccan. He designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates. These gates were employed to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir without causing damage to the dam. This system was installed in Krishnaraj Sagar Dam in Mysore and Tigra Dam in Gwalior. He was the chief designer and engineer of flood protection of Hyderabad city and famous Krishnaraj Sagar Dam across Cauvery river. The dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia then and increase the agricultural production of nearby area manifold.
In 1906-07 British Government of India, sent him to Aden in order to study water supply and drainage system and project done by him was successfully implemented in Aden. He also visited foreign countries like China, Japan in 1898 and Egypt, Canada, Russia and US in 1908. In 1915, he was awarded Knighthood by the British Empire for creativity of his mind towards engineering ideas.
As Diwan of Mysore, he also showed his acumen as a statesman.He helped establish numerous engineering institutes, agricultural university, steel plant and various commercial institutions like State Bank of Mysore.
In the heady post independence days of nation building, vision of Sir MV paved a way for modernism. He is known for his sincerity towards work, responsibility to the cause and dedication towards people. His contribution to the legacy of Civil engineering is not only a source of national pride but also bears a testimony to his brilliance, dedication, skill and honesty. He was awarded with nation’s greatest honour ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1955. He will inspire generations of engineers to come for working in the good of society.
Reference Links:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Visvesvaraya
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