Visvesvaraya began his career by working for the
Government of British India, working in
Bombay Presidency and other British-held colonies in the
Middle East. He later worked for
Hyderabad State. After retirement, he began his administrative and statesmanship career and continued his engineering career in the Kingdom of Mysore.
Engineering career Visvesvaraya became an assistant engineer in 1885 at the Public Works Department,
Bombay, in
Bombay Presidency. In 1899, Visvesvaraya was invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission where he implemented an intricate system of irrigation in the
Deccan Plateau and designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates that were first installed in 1903 at
Khadakvasla Dam near
Pune. These gates raised the storage level in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same system was installed at
Tigra Dam in
Gwalior and later at the
KRS Dam at
Mysore, Karnataka. He later became the chief engineer of the Laxmi Talav Dam near
Kolhapur. In around 1906/1907, the Government of
British India sent Visvesvaraya to the
British Colony of Aden (present-day
Yemen), to study water supply and drainage systems. The project prepared by him was successfully implemented in Aden. After opting for voluntary retirement in 1908, Visvesvaraya took a foreign tour to study industrialised nations. Then, for a short period, he worked for Nizam
Osman Ali Khan. He was one of the chief engineers of the flood protection system for the city of
Hyderabad who suggested flood relief measures for the city, which was under constant threat by the
Musi river. He achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system for the city. He was instrumental in developing a system to protect
Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion. This dam created the biggest reservoir in
Asia at the time of its construction. In November 1909, at the invitation of Dewan
V.P. Madhava Rao, Visvesvaraya joined as a chief engineer of
Mysore State. He was the Chief Engineer of the
KRS Dam at
Mysore. He was also later the chairman of the board of engineers for the
Tungabhadra Dam in
Hospet,
Karnataka.
Premiership In 1912, Visvesvaraya was appointed
Dewan of Mysore by Maharaja
Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. He served for nearly seven years until 1918. He commissioned several new railway lines in
Mysore Railways (now part of
Southwestern Indian Railways). Visvesvaraya encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Dewan. He was instrumental in charting out a plan for road construction between
Tirumala and
Tirupati. Visvesvaraya gave his technical advice for the location of
Mokama Bridge over the
Ganga in
Bihar. At the time, he was over 90 years old.
Career timeline • Assistant Engineer in Bombay, 1885; served in
Nasik,
Khandesh (mainly in
Dhule) and Pune • Services lent to Municipality of Sukkur, Sind, 1894; designed and carried out waterworks for the municipality • Executive Engineer, Surat, 1896 • Assistant Superintending Engineer, Pune, 1897–1899; visited
China and
Japan, 1898 • Executive Engineer for Irrigation, Pune, 1899 • Sanitary Engineer, Bombay, and member, Sanitary Board, 1901; gave evidence before Indian Irrigation Commission • Designed and constructed automatic gates patented by him at Lake Fife Storage Reservoir; introduced a new system of irrigation known as "Block System", 1903; represented the Bombay Government at Simla Irrigation Commission, 1904; on special duty, 1905 • Superintending Engineer, 1907; visited
Egypt,
Canada,
United States, and
Russia, 1908 • Consulting Engineer to Hyderabad/Nizam State supervised and carried out engineering works on Musi river; Hyderabad floods of 1909 • Retired from British Service, 1909 • Chief Engineer and Secretary to Government of Mysore, 1909 • Dewan of Mysore, Public Works Department and Railway, 1913 • Board of Directors of
Tata Steel, 1927–1955 == Awards and honours ==