Sir Mokshagundam
Visvesvaraya
Born in 1861 at Chikkaballarpur in former Mysore State, Sir Mokshagundam took the B A degree from Madras
University in 1880 and received engineering education at the then College of Science, Pune.
Early in 1884, he was appointed as an Assistant Engineer in the Bombay PWD. In 1894, he was called upon to
undertake the execusion of the water supply and drainage of Sukkur in Sind (now in Pakistan). Construction
of another waterworks scheme for Surat City followed. In 1899, he was placed in charge of Poona Irrigation
District.
The Indian Irrigation Commission of 1901-1903, appointed him to tour the country and to advise the Government
of India on measures to implement and extend schemes of cultivation by irrigation. He also designed, patented
and installed a system of automatic gates in 1903 to raise the storage level of the lake at Khadakvasla
permanently without raising the dam and thus combat the insufficiency of the lake as a source of supply to
meet the needs of the Mutha Canal and the water supply requirement of Poona City. In 1906 he was deputed to
Aden to prepare a proposal for sanitation, water supply and roads. After 28 years of service he took voluntary
and premature retirement in 1909.
In 1909, at the pressing invitation of the Maharaja of Mysore, he accepted the services in Mysore State as
Chief Engineer. His scheme for the Mysore Iron and Wood Distillation Works, Bhadravati using wood charcoal
for reduction of iron ore received shape in May 1918. In the words of Gandhiji 'the Krishnarajasagara alone
which is one of the largest of its kind in the world would perpetuate the name of Sir Visvesvaraya'.
At the advanced age he prepared a flood control scheme for Orissa and was called upon to advise on the
Tungabhadra Project. One of his last assignments was the selection of suitable site for the rail-cum-road
bridge across the Ganda in Bihar (the Mokameh Bridge) opened on May 1, 1959.
He received the tide of CIE in 191 1, of KCIE in 1915 and Bharat Ratna in 1955. He was honoured by a number
of universities and he was a recipient of the Durga Prasad Khaitan Memorial Gold Medal awarded by the Royal
Asiatic Society, Calcutta. He had the distinction of being the Honorary Life Member of the Institution,
Honorary Member of the Indian Science Congress Association and other reputed learned associations. He died
in 1962 at the age of 101 years.
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya lectures were founded by the Maharashtra State Centre of the Institution in
1957-58 and the first few lectures were delivered in Bombay. Later on, the lecture was transferred to the
headquarters of the Institution of Engineers (India) in 1960, to be delivered during the Annual Convention
of the Institution, redesignated as the Indian Engineering Congress.
To prepetuate his memory, the Institution of Engineers (India) also observes each year September 15 -- the
birthday of Sir Visvesvaraya -- as the Engineers' Day to inspire the members of the engineering community to
his ideals.
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