V.SESHASAYEE A MEMOIR
ThiruV.Seshasayee was born in theyear 1890 in the village of valadi, a suburb ofThiruchirappalli. He came from a middle class family of modestmeans.V.Seshasayee studied in St.Josepf’s High school until he matriculatedfromthere. Impressed by the intelligence and technical accumen ofThiruV.Seshasayee, Mr.Winter, chief Electrical and signal engineer of thesouthIndian Railway recruited him as an apprentice that gave Thiru V.Seshasayeeanopportunity to learn many new things. In fact he helped Mr.Winter to devisethe‘Block System’ which has been used by the Railways ever since.
ThiruV.Seshasayee and Thiru R.Seshasayee with a couple of friends set up a smallengineering workshop called“ The Seshasayee Brothers Engineering Works” andrepaired oil engines,automobiles,generator set installation, etc. they made amark especially mnedby rectifying and commissioning a electrical generator set,battery and an icemaking plant in the palace of Raja Dinakar followed by templelighting atRameshwaram, Madurai and in the houses of rich Nagarathers ofDevakottai,Karaikudi and kanadukaththan. The firm also developed firstpassenger with Mr.Carter fof Addison &Company.
Apublic limited company was formedunder the name and style of ‘The TiruchySrirangam Electric supply CorporationLimited and almost simultaneously similarcompany in Devakkottai by the nameSri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Electric SuplyCorporation Limited to distributeD.C. They established the first A.C supplysystem in the state in Devekottai in1927 and Tiruchirappalli in 1928. By 1934the Tiruchirappalli power station andbecame the biggest diesel power stationthen in South India and number ofdiesel power stations sprang up in variouscities.
ThiruV.Seshasayee saw the wisdom ofhydro power schemes as the ultimate solution forState’s rapidly increasingpower needs and engaged in a hydroelectric powergeneration utillzing thewaters of pykara in Nilgiris so that a statewide gridcould be set up and hydropower distributed to all the cities than the costlieroil power. ThiruV.Seshasayee’s enterprise vision foresight and continuouscooperation with theGovernment were primarily responsible for the robustelectricity supply systemwe have today.
ThiruV.Seshasayee successfullycommissioned a small Caustic Soda plant, the first ofits typein India atMettur Dam known as Mettur Chemicals for which the thenMadras Government hadoffered special attractive power tariffs. Today thisfactory is one of India’sleading producers of Basic Chemicals like Causticsoda, Bleaching powder,Liquid chorine and other related products. Thiru V.Seshasayee assisted incommioning a 50000 ton Sulphate plant in Travancore usingelectrolyticprocesses and also diversified the end products to Urea andAmmonium Nitrate.
ThiruV.Seshasayee actively promotedthe exploitation of gypsum mining in trichydistrict and assisted inestablishing salt manufacture inAthirampathinamand Vedharanyam. He formed “Seshasayee Industries Limited” andestablished a1200 ton high insulater factory with an associated forging shopand a foundry atNeyveli in south Arcot District and around 5000 people wereemployed. In theseindustries directly. As an outcome of his enterprise, theSouth Indian publicessentaily interested in agriculture, grew industrialminded and started lendingsupport to entrepreneurs who followed in his waySouth India has been fairlywell drawn in the industrial map of india.
ThiruV.Seshasayee was an activemember of the Co-operative movement. He formed abuilding Co-operative society nearly 50 years ago, in Tiruchirapplliwhich built housesworth over rupees 30 lakh for middle class people. As itsDirector since inception,and President from 1939 to 1958, heencouragedhis staffs to form small Co- operatives for their various needs likeprovisionshops, credit and loan society, etc. Thiru V. Seshasayee wasunostentatious,business like, and friendly to all with a keen sense
Ofjustice and fair paly. He look to hisresposibllities as a businessman veryseriously with out any compromise. Hedied on 19th October,1958.
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Ø SIT, the First Grantin aided Polytechnic, in Tiruchirapalli district, has been accredited for thePrograms Mechanical, Computer Engineering, Instrumentation and ControlEngineering and Paper Technology by the National Board of Accreditation. (NBA)during February 2024
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