A Chhattisgarh government official has been suspended following allegations that he pumped out millions of gallons of water from a reservoir over three days to retrieve his cell phone, he dropped accidentally while taking a selfie.
Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector from the Koyalibeda block in Kanker district visited the Kherkatta Paralkot reservoir on Sunday to enjoy his day off, but his trip went for a toss when the officer dropped his Samsung S23 smartphone, said to be valued around Rs 96,000, into the reservoir.
In a state of panic, Rajesh approached the Irrigation Department for assistance in retrieving his phone. Together, they planned to drain the reservoir’s water, according to reports. The water, meant for irrigation purposes, was eventually drained using a 30-horsepower pump. Over the course of three days approximately 21 lakh liters of water was drained from the reservoir. The drained water was originally meant to irrigate over 1,500 acres of land.
After discharging 41,104 cubic meters of water from the dam, the phone was finally recovered. However, it could not be repaired due to being submerged for an extended period. When questioned about his actions, Vishwas claimed that the water being pumped was wastewater unsuitable for irrigation. He justified his actions by stating that the phone contained personal and important contacts.
Vishwas mentioned that he had received verbal permission from the Kanker Irrigation Department's sub-divisional officer to empty 3-4 feet of water from the section of the dam where wastewater was stored.
"A verbal permission was given by the Kanker Irrigation Department’s sub-divisional officer to empty 3-4 feet of water. It was part of the dam where wastewater was kept which was unfit for irrigation. The water was emptied with a diesel pump at a cost of Rs 7,000-8,000. No farmer was affected by my action." Vishwas said.
However, the Deputy Officer of the Irrigation Department, Ram Lal Dhivar, stated that permission had only been granted to drain the water to a depth of five feet, but the water level had been reduced by more than 10 feet, resulting in significant waste of irrigation water.
The incident has raised debate over Twitter, where several users have criticised the government officer for misusing the resource.
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