Why India, Sri lanka, Tanzania celebrate Engineers day on September 15
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
India along with Sri Lanka and Tanzania is celebrating September 15, every year, as National Engineers’ Day to pay homage Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya and to recognize his contribution.
He was born on September, 15, 1861 into a Telugu speaking family, in princely state of Mysore. He had studied Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Madras and pursued civil engineering at College of Science in Pune. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the British Indian Empire (KCIE) by King George V for his contributions to the public good. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya KCIE FASc popularly known as Sir MV.
A Bharat Ratna awardee in 1955, Visvesvaraya took a job with the PWD of Bombay and later was invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission. He implemented an extremely intricate system of irrigation in Deccan.
He was the chief engineer responsible for the construction of Krishna Raja Sagara dam in North-West suburb of Mysuru city and chief engineer of flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad
Known for his contributions in the field of engineering, Visvesvaraya installed an irrigation system with water floodgates at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune to raise the flood supply level and storage to the highest levels. This was also installed at Gwalior’s Tigra Dam and Mysuru’s Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam, the latter of which created one of the largest reservoirs in Asia at the time.
He breathed his last in 1962, leaving the world with his beneficial contributions.
Even the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has greeted engineers on Engineers’ Day. The Prime Minister also paid tributes to Sir M. Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary.
“Engineers are synonymous with diligence and determination. Human progress would be incomplete without their innovative zeal. Greetings on Engineers Day and best wishes to all hardworking engineers. Tributes to the exemplary engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary”, the Prime Minister said.
