Amid social media outrage in the world’s most populous country, authorities in India have suspended Rajesh Vishwas, a civil servant who dropped a phone on his phone, the BBC reported on Saturday. The entire dam was emptied to find
When his $1,200 phone fell into the Kherkatta Dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh while taking a casual selfie, Vishwas, after verbal approval from a senior, retrieved it without considering the implications of his action. So he ordered the drainage of water reservoirs.
The process of draining millions of liters of water from the dam took three days, but unfortunately the phone was found, but it was flooded to work.
Vishwas justified his actions by claiming that the phone contained sensitive government data that needed to be recovered. However, he faces charges of misusing his position as a public official.
Initially, local divers were unable to locate the phone, prompting Vishwas to hire a diesel pump to pump water out of the dam.
He claimed to have received verbal permission from an official to divert some of the water into a nearby canal, with the understanding that it would benefit local farmers by providing additional water.
Over several days, about two million liters (440,000 gallons) of water were released from the dam, reportedly enough to irrigate 6 square kilometers (600 ha) of farmland.
Vishwas’ action was halted when another official from the Water Resources Department arrived to respond to the complaint. It was suspended pending an inquiry after the incident.
Priyanka Shukla, a Kankir district official emphasized the importance of water as an essential resource and expressed concern over its wastage.
Vishwas has denied abusing his position and said the water released was from the overflow section of the dam and was not fit for consumption.
However, his actions have drawn criticism from politicians, including a tweet from the national vice-president of the opposition BJP party in the state.
The tweet highlighted the issue of water scarcity during the hot summer months and criticized the officer for withdrawing 4.1 million liters of water which could have been used for irrigation purposes covering 1500 acres of land.