Rajesh Vishwas, a food officer in Chhattisgarh, India, hired a water pump to empty a reservoir after accidentally dropping his phone in it.
Following massive public outrage, the government official has been suspended from his job.
Vishwas was visiting Kherkatta Pearlkot Reservoir on his "day-off" last week. While taking a selfie, he dropped his Samsung S23 (approx. worth BD435 in India) into the 15-foot deep water.
In an attempt to retrieve it, Vishwas hired a 30 HP pump to remove water from the reservoir. The pumping process took three days.
In videos that went viral on social media, Vishwas is seen sitting under a red umbrella as diesel pumps run to drain water from the reservoir.
According to The Indian Express, Vishwas argues that the media has exaggerated the news, saying that “On Tuesday night, I hired a diesel pump for RS 7,500 and pulled out around three feet of water from the 10-feet-deep reservoir over a period of two days.”
Various reports show that the pumping wasted around 2.1 million litres of water. This was enough water to irrigate 1.5 acres of land.
Upon finding out about the pumps, senior officials from the Irrigation Department stepped in to stop the procedure.
This has led to an investigation as to why Vishwas was given the authority to pump the reservoir in the first place. Department official Ral Lal Dhinwar claims that Vishwas was only given the approval to drain 5 feet of water out.
This entire series of events has led to a discussion about water wastage. As home to almost 20% of the Earth's population, but only 4% of its water resources, India has been extremely water-stressed, especially during hotter months. This has, throughout recent years, resulted in crop losses, forest fires and even deaths. Time Now News noted that the cost of finding the officer’s phone was likely more than the means of livelihood of most farmers in the area, saying that the water could have been used for irrigation in the summer.
Although he was eventually able to retrieve his phone, Vishwas states that it is no longer working after being submerged in deep water for three days.