Millions of liters of water drained to search officer’s phone

A seemingly ordinary cellphone incident turned into an extraordinary event in Chhattisgarh, State of India where as millions of gallons of water meant for parched fields were inadvertently drained from a dam.

According to the Indian media reports, a government official, Rajesh Vishwas, accidentally dropped his phone into the 15-foot-deep water of the Kherkatta Paralkot reservoir.

Panicked by the loss of his phone, Vishwas sought assistance from the Irrigation Department to retrieve it, using a 30-horsepower pump to drain the reservoir’s water.

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Over the course of three days, a staggering of 2,100,000 litres of water was drained, depriving around 1,500 acres of land of the much-needed irrigation resource.

Finally, after the discharge of million of gallons of water, the officer’s Samsung S23 phone, valued at Rs 96,000, was recovered.

However, it came as no surprise that the phone had suffered irreparable damage due to its prolonged submersion.

Officer’s Bizarre Defence:

Rajesh Vishwas, in his defense, claimed that the water pumped out of the dam was actually “wastewater unfit for irrigation.” He further explained that his motive for retrieving the lost phone was due to its personal value, as it contained important contacts.

Vishwas stated, “Verbal permission was granted by the Kanker irrigation department SDO to drain 3-4 feet of water. This specific area of the dam contained wastewater that was not fit for irrigation purposes. The water was drained using a diesel pump, incurring a cost of approximately Rs 7,000-8,000. No farmers were adversely affected by my actions.”

Following the widespread attention garnered by the incident, Vishwas was suspended from his position on Friday.

Dam’s Water Level Down

As per Ram Lal Dhivar, the Deputy Officer of the Water Resources Department, verbal consent was given to lower the water level by up to five feet. However, the actual reduction in water level has exceeded 10 feet at present.

Authorities are evaluating the impact on irrigation and considering measures to compensate for the lost water. This comes at a time when north and central India are baking in the scorching summer sun and a shortage of irrigation water is commonplace.