The Genius Who Saved Hyderabad

A tribute to Sir M Visvesvaraya

Dear reader,

In 1908, Hyderabad faced its worst-ever disaster—the Great Musi Flood. The Musi River, which flows through the heart of the city, became the source of devastation, claiming 50,000 lives and washing away key bridges, leaving the city in ruins.

When all hope seemed lost, the Nizam’s government turned to Sir M Visvesvaraya to fix the situation.

Tasked with rebuilding and protecting Hyderabad, this brilliant engineer developed a solution that combined town planning, modern drainage systems, and innovative reservoir construction—devised to make the city flood-free. His work is still considered, by many, a blueprint for modern urban planning.

By the way, if you're wondering why we’re talking about this today, it's because today marks Sir M. Visvesvaraya’s birth anniversary. It is in his honour that we we commemorate Engineers' Day.

We have an excerpt from his autobiography that goes into great details of how they made Hyderabad flood-proof: https://swarajyamag.com/smart-cities/how-m-visvesvaraya-made-hyderabad-flood-free-lessons-for-smart-cities

Happy reading,

Raghu