Mokshagundam Visvesvaray

Mokshagundam Visvesvaray

Engineer’s Day is celebrated on September 15 in India as a tribute to the greatest Indian engineer and to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mokshagundam Visvesvaray, popularly known as Sir MV. He was a prolific civil engineer, scholar, educationist, economist and statesman of the 20th century. The day is observed to commemorate the great work of engineers, and to encourage and thank those engineers who are committed to improving our respective cities and countries.

About Sir M Visvesvaraya 

M Visvesvaraya was born in 1861 at Chikkaballapur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Both his parents were well-known Sanskrit scholars. M Visvesvaraya did his primary education in his hometown but later moved to Bengaluru for higher education. After completing his undergraduate degree in Arts, M Visvesvaraya changed track and went for a degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering in Pune.

Civil Engineer and Statesman, M Visesvaraya was the Chief Engineer of Krishna Raja Sagara dam in the north west suburb of Mysuru city.

M Visvesvaraya was one of the first in India to think about irrigation techniques and flood disaster management. He became famous for his pioneering work in flood control measures. As the Diwan of Mysore, M Visvesvaraya founded the Mysore Soap Factory, Bangalore Agricultural University, State Bank of Mysore and Mysore Iron and Steel Works. The companies provided employment to thousands of people. He also founded the Government Engineering College, now known as University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.
 
Mokshagundam Sir played crucial role in important constructions and projects in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two Telugu states. He used his expertise to solve the erosion problem of Visakhapatnam Port from sea water and also designed flood protection system for Hyderabad, which brought laurels.

Popularly called ‘Sir MV’, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955 for his immense contribution to India’s early infrastructure development, education and social welfare.