Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid tributes to visionary, ?civil engineer, administrator, and statesman Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, at his birthplace Muddenahalli in this district.

Accompanied by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Modi paid floral tributes to the memorial of Sir M Visvesvaraya and later visited the museum dedicated to him, which consists of some of his belongings.

Sir M V as he is popularly referred to, served as the 19th Diwan of Mysore, under Maharaja, from 1912 to 1918.

Considered the architect of modern Mysuru (now Karnataka), his birthday on September 15 (born in 1861), is celebrated every year as 'Engineers Day'. He was awarded the 'Bharat Ratna' by the Government of India in 1955.
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He has the credit of designing and constructing various dams in the country including the Krishna Raja Sagara dam near Mandya. He is revered by many in the old Mysuru region, and his portraits along with Maharaja of Mysuru Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar can be found in several houses of the region even today.
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During his premiership as Diwan, Visvesvaraya was responsible for the founding of factories and institutions funded by the maharaja, including Mysore Soap Factory, Parasitoid Laboratory, Mysore Iron & Steel Works in Bhadravathi, Bangalore Polytechnic (now Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Bangalore), Bangalore Agricultural University, State Bank of Mysore, among various other institutions.

He died in April 1962, at the age of 100.