PM Modi inaugurates free-of-cost hospital in Karnataka

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated 'Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research' (SMSIMSR) & 'Sri Sathya Sai Rajeswari Memorial Block', a totally-free-of-cost medical college and hospital, at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli in Chikkaballapura district.

The SMSIMSR hospital has been established by Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, an official release said.

Situated in a rural area and established with a vision of de-commercialising medical education and healthcare, SMSIMSR would provide medical education and quality medical care -- completely free of cost to all, it said. The institute will start functioning from the academic year 2023, the release said.

PM pays tributes to Sir M Visvesvaraya during his visit to Karnataka

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to visionary, civil engineer, administrator, and statesman Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, at his birth place Muddenahalli in this district, as reported by news agency PTI.

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, had 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.

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.

During his premiership as Diwan, Visvesvaraya was responsible for the founding of factories and institutions funded for 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.