A food inspector named Vishwas in India unintentionally dropped his Samsung smartphone, valued at about 100,000 rupees (or about 5,500 Malaysian Ringgit), into the Kerkata Dam in the state of Chhattisgarh in the center of the country while snapping a photo, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Vishwas decided to hire a diesel pump to drain the dam after local divers failed to find the phone.
He asserted that an official had verbally authorized him to “release some water into nearby canals” and that the official had said that doing so would help farmers by giving them access to additional water.
The pump reportedly drained 2 million liters (440,000 gallons) of water over a few days, which is said to be enough to irrigate 600 hectares (six square kilometers) of farmland.
A representative from the water resources department went to the location after receiving a complaint and stopped the pumping process. According to Shukla, a representative for the Kanker district, “He (Vishwas) has been suspended pending further investigation.” Water cannot be squandered in this way because it is a precious resource.
Vishwas denied any abuse of power and stated that the water he released came from the dam’s overflow section, which was “not usable,” and argued that the phone contained sensitive government data that needed to be retrieved. However, his actions drew criticism from political figures. The Deputy National President of the opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party in Chhattisgarh took to Twitter, stating, “While people rely on water tankers in scorching summers, this official has wasted 4.1 million liters of water that could have irrigated 1,500 acres of land.”
