Engineers' Day 2021: Who was MV Visvesvaraya? See history & significance

The nation is celebrating National Engineer’s Day today to recognize and honour the achievements of the great engineer of India Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Every year, engineers’ day is celebrated in India as well as Sri Lanka and Tanzania on September 15. The day is observed to commemorate the great work of engineers and encourage them for improvement and innovation.

This year marks the 160th birth anniversary of M Visvesvaraya. He was born on September 15, 1861 in the Muddenahalli village of Karnataka. He completed his school education in his hometown and then went to pursue his higher education in Madras.  He completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Madras. However, later he pursued civil engineering at the College of Science in Pune.

Works of MV Visvesvaraya

During his careers, Bharat Ratna MV Visvesvaraya undertook many complex projects and delivered remarkable infrastructural results. He was the one who patented and installed an irrigation system with water floodgates at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune to raise the food supply level and storage to the highest levels know as ‘block system’ in 1903 that was also installed at Gwalior’s Tigra Dam and Mysuru’s Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam. The KRS dam became one of the largest reservoirs in Asia at the time.

In the year 1906-07, the government of India had sent him to Aden to study water supply and drainage system. The project prepared by him was implemented in Aden successfully. He became popular when he designed a flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad. He was instrumental in developing a system to protect Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion. He had also given his technical advice for the location of Mokama Bridge over River Ganga in Bihar, when he was over 90 years old and he was called “Father of Modern Mysore State”.

Industrial Places founded by the 'Father of Modern Mysore State'

During his service with the Government of Mysore state, he was responsible for the founding of Mysore Soap Factory, Parasitoid Laboratory, Mysore Iron and Steel Works which is now named as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited. He also founded Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Bangalore, Bangalore Agriculture University, the State Bank of Mysore, Century Club, Mysore Chamber of Commerce (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry), the Apex Chamber of Commerce in Karnataka, University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore and various other industrial places. He had also encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore.

(Source: Wikipedia)