Education corridor near Bengaluru soon to honour Visvesvaraya

Bengaluru: An education corridor would soon be built in the Muddenahalli-Nandi Hills region near Bengaluru in memory of eminent engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Tuesday.

"The state government will build the education corridor in the Muddenahalli-Nandi region in the memory of Visvesvaraya, who was born here on September 15, 1861," said Sudhakar at Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapura district, 60 km from Bengaluru.

September 15 is commemorated every year as "Engineers' Day" across India to mark the birth anniversary of Visvesvaraya (1861-1962).

"It is a matter of pride that the eminent engineer and statesman is from our district (Chikkaballapura). My wish is to develop his village as an education corridor with a university at Muddenahalli," said Sudhakar after laying the foundation stone for building Sir M. Visvesvaraya International Institute.

Recalling Visvesvaraya's outstanding contributions to the state and the country, the minister said his birthplace Muddenahalli should be made well-known in the education field.

Noting that skill training was as important as education, Sudhakar said a skill development training centre would also be set up in the region.

"Unemployed youth who discontinued education will benefit from the skill centre," he added. Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who was present on the occasion, also spoke on Visvesvaraya's contributions.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted all engineers across the country to commemorate Visvesvaraya's birth anniversary.

Paying his tributes, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said as a visionary engineer and statesman, his (Visvesvaraya's) many contributions will be remembered by generations to come.

Well-known for solving irrigation-related problems in the country, Visvesvaraya's major works including the irrigation system in the Deccan Plateau canals, and inventing automatic gates to regulate flow of water in reservoirs.

Born to two Sanskrit scholars, he moved to then Bangalore for higher studies after primary education in Muddenahalli. He later graduated in civil engineering from the Pune College of Engineering. With expertise in irrigation and flood management, Visvesvaraya designed the 'automatic barrier water floodgates', installed at at Khadakvasla reservoir in Pune in 1903.

He later become the architect of the famous Krishanarajasagar dam across the Cauvery river in Mandya. In his later years, Visvesvaraya served as the Diwan of Mysore. He was knighted by King George V in 1915 for his valuable contributions to the country and in 1955, the Indian government conferred the Bharat Ratna on him.