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A tribute to Sir M Visvesvaraya

15^th September 1860-14^th April 1962

Sir MV, The Bharat Ratna, Dewan of Mysore, A Visionary, A Technocrat par excellence, An able Administrator, Educationist, Reformist, The Towering Personality in the history of Indian engineering, economist and a good human being worth emulating..... We bow our heads in deep respect and gratification for that selfless service you have offered to the nation.

Sir M Visvesvaraya, fondly known as Sir MV, began his career in March 1884 with his first assignment in the district of Nashik, as Assistant engineer with Public Works Department, Government of Bombay. After this initial work of general nature for a few months, he was encountered with his first assignment of constructing a pipe siphon across a channel which carried water from the Panjra River to Datarti, a village about 35 miles away from Dhulia and thus began the story of an engineer par excellence.

Bihar & Orissa Mahanadi

Sir MV, played an important role in many technical projects across the undivided India and almost immortalised them too. It is practically impossible to find a parallel to Sir MV whose span of active working life covers about eight decades. In this long period he worked practically all the waking hours (leaving five hours of sleep in a day) excepting for his cherished constitutional walks and lunch time. His walked the talk what he believed, "It is better to work out than rust out", "Work, work hard, hard work does not kill, it is worry that kills." "Work is worship and service to the nation is the goal and purpose of all education and knowledge". Even his personal life was as well planned as his public activities. He was most regular in his habits. He himself attributed his longevity and remarkably sound health and vitality to his strict diet and self-discipline.

Engineering, in all its branches, particularly those of irrigation, reservoirs, dam and water supply, power generation and bridge building to university education, technical and occupational training, town planning, industry and manufacture, banking, commerce - in every one of these he established new benchmarks and left indelible marks for the future generations to know and fathom the depths of his knowledge. He tried his best to infuse the modern spirit, ideas and methods in the political, social and economic fields. Sir MV earned love and admiration of all the country men. He never sought publicity or fame but honours came to him from many quarters spontaneously and deservingly. After India attained independence, he was conferred the nation's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955.

Sir M V was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1911. In 1915, while he was the Diwan of Mysore, Visvesvaraya was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) by the British for his myriad contributions to the public good. He was feted with honorary membership of the international Institution of Civil Engineers (based in London) and a fellowship of Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science. He was awarded several honorary doctoral degrees like D.Sc., LL.D., D.Litt. from eight universities in India. He was president of the 1923 Session of the Indian Science Congress. Sir M.V. was awarded the honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers for an unbroken 50 years.

His impeccable engineering works have been recognized and appreciated to an extent that his birth anniversary is celebrated as ‘Engineers Day’. It is impossible to capture Sir MV’s immense contribution in the Indian context through this small article. However, Built Expressions salutes this unmatched technocrat for his unparallel contributions to the great Indian march and the unprecedented engineering skill and acumen he displayed. As a tribute to this great engineer on his birth anniversary, in all our humility, we list out a few projects of his involvement for the benefit of our esteemed readers.

Engineering skills coupled with modern thinking

Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru wanted Sir MV to be associated with certain projects of great importance like the Orissa floods and bridge across the Ganga. In many of these projects, Sir MV used innovations ahead of his time. For the water supply project at Sukkur in Sind, for example, he implemented the concept of ‘collector wells' rarely used in those days but found in textbooks on ground water hydrology today. Another example is his automatic flood gate for dams (which he patented) which permits the passage of a flood through a reservoir without the water level exceeding the full reservoir level with the ordinary spillway used at that time; the flood discharge raised the water level above the full reservoir level, submerging additional surrounding land. This gate thus was a forerunner to the present day radial gates, which, however, are not automatic.

He foresaw the importance of using a reservoir for flood control considered till then only for irrigation and power generation. His recommendations later resulted in the Hirakud dam being built, taming the Mahanadi river and reducing flood havoc in Orissa. Similarly, the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundarabad are protected from floods due to plans drawn up by Sir MV.

As Special Consulting Engineer in Hyderabad

Aden - Water Supply & Drainage Scheme

It was in 1908, when Sir MV was travelling in Italy, got a communication to take charge of reconstruction of Hyderabad and prepare a drainage scheme. The city of Hyderabad, then under Nizam, saw a devastating flood that caused damages beyond expectation. He was also expected to suggest remedial measures to prevent such catastrophes in future. Both assignments were completed with immaculate precision benefitting and relieving the population who lived in that area. Details of this project would be dealt in the later part of this article.

Shifting to Mysore

Before taking up services at Mysore, he asked His Highness "whether there was any prospect of Government encouraging industries and technical education in the state on a larger scale than they were accustomed to and utilising my services in that connection.” The response he got from His Highness was extremely positive and Sir MV decided to join the services at Mysore.

The Krishna Raj Sagar dam

Sir MV was the driving force behind the construction of many major dams and water supply schemes across the country. The famous Krishna Raja Sagar dam in Mysore is one of these. The use of automatic sluice gates, an engineering innovation applied in many dams across the country, was Sir MV’s idea.

Sir MV supervised the construction of the KRS dam across the Kaveri River from conception to inauguration. This dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time it was built.

The dam has been constructed across the River Cauvery and is close to Mysore. The dam is at the confluence of three rivers - Cauvery, Hemavathi and Lakshmanatirtha. The dam was built across river Kaveri, the life giving river for the Mysore and Mandya districts, in 1924. Apart from being the main source of water for irrigation in the most fertile Mysore and Mandya, the reservoir is the main source of drinking water for all of Mysore city and almost the whole of Bangalore city, the capital of the state of Karnataka. The water released from this dam is further used as an important source of water in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has its own Mettur dam in the Salem district. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya served as the chief engineer during the construction of this dam. The dam is named for the then ruler of the Mysore Kingdom, Krishnaraja Wodeyar.

According to archives, then chief engineer of Mysore state, Sir MV prepared a blueprint to build a dam across Kaveri river near Kannanbadi. For that, he had to persuade the king and the then dewan T Ananda Rao. Satisfied with the "revolutionary concept which would change the fortune of Mysore state", the king issued GO No. C.13198490 on October 12, 1911, and gave the go-ahead for the project costing Rs 81 lakh. However, it rose to Rs 103.42 lakh later.

This is India's first irrigation dam. Sir.M.Vishweswariah, the engineer who designed and built this dam, has shown his acumen in converting a dam site into a beautiful garden with colourful fountains and ponds downstream. The dam is named after the then Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar, who financed this novel project. KRS represents a marvel of civil engineering achievement in pre-independence India and was among the first in the world to use automatic sluice gates. Locally available surkhi (a combination of limestone and brick powder as a substitute of cement) was used instead of importing cement from England (a scarce commodity in those days). It was between the foremost in the world to employ automatic rinse gates.

Krishna Raja Sagar Dam is a commanding structure and is a great example of state-of-the-art engineering. It is one of the first dams in the world to use automatic sluice gates and stands proud as a symbol of the civil engineering skills of pre-independent India. In fact, it is considered an engineering marvel. The dam is around 8,600 feet long and 130 feet high with its reservoir spread across 130 sq.kms. It is spread over 150 acres and provides irrigation to over 1,20,000 acres of land. Krishna Raja Sagar Dam is an ideal place to head out to for a picnic. The scintillating Brindavan Gardens are next to the dam. There’s a boating pond too which enables you to cross the dam from its northern to southern bank.

The dam had the distinction of being the then biggest dam in India and second biggest in the world.KRS (Krishna raja sagara) is one among the well-known tourist attractions in entire Karnataka state. It is constructed across the way of river Kaveri. This wonderful KRS Dam, a genius of civil engineering and is itself other well-known tourist attraction was constructed by Sir M.Vishveshwariah in the year of 1924 employing surkhi, The name of the Dam was titled after the Maharaja of Mysore - Krishnaraja Wodeyar, who invested this narrative project.

Biggest dam in India

As per the initial plan, Sir MV wanted to build 194-foot tall dam to hold 41.5 tmcft of water. But it was restricted to 124 feet following objections from Madras presidency state to build the dam. However, the works began with the permission of the British government, and ended in 1932.

The dedication behind building such a massive dam is noteworthy, and it is for this reason that thousands of farmers in Mandya district literally worship Krishna Rajendra Wodeyar and Sir MV.

Automatic Gates Patented by MV

All reservoirs should have a device to pass excess inflows safely. Open spillways do this at the cost of a rise in water level. Sir MV invented automatic gates which do this job without a rise in the water level. Such 48 automatic gates in six sets of eight gates each are installed in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam.

Each set of 8 gates are connected by means of chains and pulleys to a dead weight, which in turn is connected to a float working inside a masonry well both situated on the rear of the dam. The float and the dead weight called the balance weight are located one in front of the other so as to have 4 gates on each side of it.

When all the 8 gates are closing the sluice vents, the balance weight will be at the top of its run and the float at the bottom of the well. The well has an inlet pipe from the reservoir to allow water into the well at full reservoir level. The well has also an outlet pipe. When the water level in the lake reaches the maximum permissible level, water rushes into the well and the float rises up. The balance weight descends down and all the 8 gates are pulled up. The sluice vents then begin to discharge.

When the reservoir level falls, the well gets emptied. The balance weight then comes up and the gates descend and discharge is stopped.

As Dewan of Mysore

It was in 1912, he was offered the post of Dewan of Mysore by His Highness with an assurance to consider his earlier wish in respect of using his services in Education and other sectors. After assuming his office as Dewan of Mysore, he observed the following deficiencies and took up these issues in his very first representative assembly in 1913.

Low level of education
Lack of initiative, ambition and power of organisation
Lack of planning
Low economic condition

In the subsequent years he strived for the enlargement in these areas and was successful in implementing many development programs.

Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Works at Bhadravathi

Visweshwariah Iron & Steel Works at Bhadravathi

Bhadravathi on the banks of the river Bhadra in Shimoga District of Mysore State was originally known as Benkipura or the 'Fire Town' - due to the existence of country-made furnaces for processing high grade iron ore found in the Bababudan hills.

Benkipura is the name of the infamous place where Sir MV engineered to set up the iron and iron and steel under his grand slogan 'Industrialise or Perish'. The vision and foresight of Sir MV, the then Dewan of Mysore resulted in setting up of ‘Mysore Wood Distillation and Iron Works’ in 1918. It became a limited company in 1962. As a tribute to its illustrious founder, the company was renamed ‘Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Limited (VISL) on February 16, 1976.

Visweshwariah Iron & Steel Works at Bhadravathi

To convert the ore to iron on a large scale, coal was required which was not available anywhere nearby. Transporting coal from long distances proved uneconomical. It occurred to MV that wood available in plenty from nearby forest could be converted into charcoal and used for smelting of iron ore as was being done in America, Sweden and Germany. A scheme was prepared for transporting the ore from the hill-top by a 5 km long ropeway to the foot of the hills, from where the ore could be transported to Bhadravathi at a distance of 40 miles by tramway.

The scheme, drawn up with the help of C P Perin, expert metallurgist from America envisaged converting 76000 tons of wood into charcoal in retorts with apparatus for recovering the by-products of destructive distillation and utilise the charcoal in smelting 30,000 tons of iron ore. The part of charcoal which was too fine for the furnace was used in the manufacture of calcium carbide with the power generated from the waste gases of the furnace.

This scheme was sanctioned by the Mysore Government during 1917-18 and executed during 1918-1922. It was one of the most ambitious schemes adopted in India at that time. It was the first plant in Asia excluding Japan to undertake manufacture of pig iron using charcoal.

Due to general economic depression consequent on the war, food scarcity and influenza epidemic, very little progress could be achieved. There was talk of closing down the Works, especially when the price of pig-iron in the old markets fell steeply and the Works became a losing concern. At this point Sir MV was persuaded to take over charge as Chairman of the Board of Management in which office he functioned for six and a half years.

In 1925, Sir MV toured at his own cost to Sweden, England, America and Germany to get firsthand knowledge of manufacturing iron by charcoal and with this knowledge he modernised the Works and reorganised the departments, the heads of which were made accountable for the progress. The Works then started a new chapter of progress, production and profit. The price of the Bhadravathi iron was cheaper than the American pig-iron, even after accounting for transportation from India to America. The Works could export 5,000 tonnes of pig-iron to the east-coast districts of America. Manufacture of cast iron pipes was started in 1925 with the help of a German Firm. When the Second World War broke out, the importance of these works was realized by the British Government and its products proved a great help in the war efforts. The accumulated losses of previous years were wiped out and the Works then became a valuable national asset.

Sir MV had to face not only very difficult situations in organizing and running the Works but also bitter criticism of his schemes when they were in a nascent stage. The Mysore Iron & Steel Works had the unique distinction of being the biggest State-owned concern in South India. It was the first in India to establish a ferro-silicon plant and electric pigiron furnaces. Bhadravathi came to be called the Birmingham of South India later.

VISL has carved a niche for itself in the field of Alloy and Special Steels in the country. It takes care of requirement of strategic sectors like Defence, Nuclear Power Corporation, Railways etc. VISL is producing Alloy and Special Steels since 1966 and has kept pace with the developments by quickly adopting newer technologies to meet the requirements of the day and has always remained in the forefront as quality steel producer in the country.

As a long term strategy VISL installed one 530 Cu.M Blast Furnace in 1995 to produce hot metal of right quality so as to take the full advantage of BF-BOF-LRF-VD route in the production of Alloy and Special Steels. To sustain as a leading premier Alloy and Special Steel producer short and long term modernization proposals are in various stages of consideration. VISL today is striving to provide world class quality products and services to the customers.

Block System of Irrigation

Whenever an irrigation facility is opened, the beneficiaries usually use water indiscriminately leading to irregular, wasteful use of water resulting in lower crop yields and damage to –lands due to water-logging and salinity. To control the misuse of water, MV first introduced a 10 day rotation system – called block system - in the Deccan Canals by way of rationing of water.

The objective of the Block System is to distribute the benefits of an irrigation work over a larger number of villages and to concentrate irrigation in each village within blocks of specified units and in selected soils and situations. The total area of the blocks in each village should be large enough to enable everyone who is able to grow an irrigated crop to have a share, but not too large a share to constitute a surfeit or lead cultivators to neglect the advantages of water-supply in good seasons as was being done.

Only one-third of the area in each block could have sugarcane or another perennial crop; the remaining two-thirds could either have rabi or monsoon crop or vegetables grown till the end of February. After February and till monsoon, water will be supplied only to one-third of the area in which the perennial crop is grown. There would thus be a sort of triennial crop rotation in each block. This system has stood the test of time and is still followed in Deccan Canals.

Advisory services for construction of a major dam across Mahanadi Controlling Flood Havoc in Orissa

The deltaic area of Orissa is subject to heavy floods caused by the river Mahanadi due to cloud-bursts. At the instance of Mahatma Gandhi in 1937, MV was approached by Orissa Government to render advice in the matter of controlling the floods in the Mahanadi delta.

Remembering the contemplated construction of flood storage reservoirs on such enormous rivers like Missisippi and Ohio in USA, MV was emboldened to recommend an innovative design of flood control reservoirs on Mahanadi and tributaries that would hold up the floods temporarily and release them gradually and harness the storage for hydro power and irrigation of commercial crops thus rendering large flood storage schemes economically viable.

Another suggestion was that the deep cuttings could be avoided by constructing a weir or a dam combined with the overflow channel leading into the valley and mechanical excavators and dredgers could be used in river training. MV advised that such measures might prove of incalculable value as a protection against both flood and drought. MV's careful calculation of hydrologic data can be seen from the extract gathered from his report.

As the report goes, "Taking the maximum flood in each of the three big rivers, the combined flood volume will come to about 27,00,000 cubic feet per second. If this discharge is spread over the surface in a flood of 5 ft depth and 4 ft per second average velocity, the width of the space required for pursuing it through the delta will be about 25 miles. Assuming average length of rivers to be 50 miles, this will mean that more than one quarter of the total deltaic area should be normally reserved to provide the necessary water-way.

'The tendency of the deltaic rivers is to gradually raise their beds and banks above the level of surrounding country. Even protected areas in the neighbourhood may one day become unprotected and be subjected to catastrophic inundations.' He cautioned, 'because there is such a tendency, efforts at flood control should not be relaxed."

Sir MV's advice bore fruit in the actual construction of Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi under the Five Year Plans in independent India.

Water Supply to Sukkur in Sind on the Banks of River Indus

Sukkur Barrage, Pakistan

In Sir MV's own words from his Memoirs, the Sukkur Water Works can be described best thus:

"Water, which had to be supplied from the river Indus into the town water-works system, had to be pumped into a reservoir on top of a hill close to the river bank, locally known as "Edinburgh Castle Hill." The water of the Indus River, always muddy and discoloured, had to be filtered and purified before distribution to the city. At that time the City Municipality of Sukkur was not in sufficiently affluent circumstances to spend money on filter-beds. As an alternative, I decided to excavate a circular well in the river-bed itself close to the river bank to obtain spring water by percolation. The supply from this well was found insufficient, so a tunnel had to be driven from the bottom of the well for some distance under the flowing river. This tunnel brought a sufficient supply of pure water which was conveyed by a pipe into the engine sump well of the pumping station on the river bank. The water was then pumped into the pure water reservoir constructed on top of the 'Edinburgh Castle Hill.' The circular well-tunnel combimnion used by MV is known as 'collector well' in modem textbooks.

Flood Protective Dams and Embankments for Hyderabad

Musi Reservoir, Andhra Pradesh

River Musi runs through the city of Hyderabad dividing it into two parts. Most destructive cyclonic floods occurred on 28^th September 1908. MV studied the problem and found that 221 tanks had breached. Maximum flood had risen to 4,25,000 cubic feet per second. There was no record of a run-off of 3/4 inch per hour from any other catchment of this size in the' world. The maximum flood in the River Krishna that occurred was 10,41,670 cusecs in 1903 from a catchment of one lakh sq miles which is 13 times larger than Musi catchment. From available hydrologic data MV noted that equivalent run-off, in inches per hour, was 0.045 in Pennar, and 0.81 in Koyna and a value close to that found in Musi catchment.

When the Hyderabad Government approached MV for advice he suggested construction of two reservoirs to contain the floods and to provide irrigation: one on the main River Musi and another on Esi, a tributary, and both dams to be located 20 to 25 km upstream of the city. The reservoirs were designed to store 8500 million cubic feet and 12,000 million cubic feet, respectively. Embankments were advised along the banks of the river in the city; with some portions of it converted into walks and gardens. After translating MV's advice, Hyderabad city has been practically free from floods.

Conclusion

He retired as Dewan of Mysore in 1918 but continued his services even after retirement. During his entire government service, Sir MV laboured with extraordinary zeal and single minded devotion to increase the wealth of 5the state. His administration as Dewan resulted in important and far reaching developments in education, irrigation, industries, railways, and also laid foundations for a progressive future.

Reference:

Biography of Sri Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya in a snippet

Date of Birth: 15 September 1860

Place of Birth: Muddenahalli village (Kolar District, Karnataka)

1881: Completed B.A. from Central College Bangalore.

1883: Completed Civil Engineering from Science College in Poona.

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was an eminent engineer and statesman and played a key role in building of modern India.

When Sir M. Visvesvaraya cleared his engineering, Government of Bombay offered him a job and appointed him Assistant Engineer at Nasik. As an engineer, he achieved some marvelous feats.

He planned a way of supplying water from the river Sindhu to a town called Sukkur. He devised a new irrigation system called the Block System. He devised steel doors to stop the wasteful flow of water in dams. He was the architect of the Krishnaraja Sagara dam in Mysore.

Sir M. Visvesvaraya led a very simple life. He was a strict vegetarian and a teetotaler. He was known for his honesty and integrity.

In 1912, Maharaja of Mysore appointed Visvesvaraya as his Dewan. Before accepting the position of Dewan of Mysore, he invited all his relatives for dinner. He told them very clearly that he would accept the prestigious office on the condition that none of them would approach him for favours.

As Dewan of Mysore, he worked tirelessly for educational and industrial development of the state. When he was the Dewan many new industries came up. The Sandal Oil Factory, the Soap Factory, the Metals Factory, the Chrome Tanning Factory, was some of them. Of the many factories he started the most important is the Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works.

In 1913 Bank of Mysore renamed as State Bank of Mysore.

Sir M. Visvesvaraya voluntarily retired as Dewan of Mysore in 1918. He worked actively even after his retirement.

In 1920 Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works - as its Chairman he rescued it from becoming extinct & Published a Book named Reconstructing India

1934 - Planned Economy for India

Awards Received:

1906 - "Kaisar-i-Hind" in recognition of his services
1911 - C.I.E. (Companion of the Indian Empire) at the Delhi Durbar
1915 - K.C.I.E (Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire)
1921 - D.Sc. - Calcutta University
1943 - Elected as an Honorary Life Member of the Institution of Engineers (1)
1944 - D.Sc. - Allahabad
1948 - Doctorate - LLD. Mysore University.
1953 - D.Litt - Andhra University.
1953 - Awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Town Planners, India.
1955 - Conferred BHARATHARATNA -
1958 - 'Durga Prasad Khaitan Memorial Gold Medal' by the Royal Asiatic Society Council of Bengal

Source:

http://me.tits.ac.in/files/MVB.pdf

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