Officer Fined Rs. 53,000 For Emptying Dam to Find Samsung Phone
Rajesh Kumar Vishwas, a food inspector was fined Rs 53,000 for emptying a reservoir to find his phone that fell into it.
On 21 May 2023, Rajesh Kumar Vishwas, a food inspector in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh, was on a picnic with his friends at the scenic Paralkot reservoir which is also known as the Kherkatta check dam and it provides water to an area of 9,72,000 acres. Many farmers use this water for their crops. That time he was taking a selfie with his Samsung Galaxy S23 phone slipped and fell into a tank that stores overflowing water from the reservoir. The water is used by farmers from nearby villages. Vishwas said that the mobile contains secret government data and this is why the phone must be found. After local divers couldn't find the phone, he paid for a diesel pump to be brought in. The pump ran for 4 days. 41 lakh liters of water was pumped out of the reservoir. 41 lakh liters of water could water 1,500 acres of farmland!
That time Vishwas spoke to the media and said, “When the phone fell in, locals that were present there told me the tank is only 10 ft deep, and the phone could be retrieved. The villagers first tried to fish it out, but their efforts were in vain. They then suggested to me that if the water could be emptied by three to four feet, they would be able to get it. So I spoke to the sub divisional officer of the Water Resources Department on the phone, who told me that since the water is not in use by farmers, I could empty it. So I emptied it by three feet with the help of locals and diesel pumps and got my phone back,”
The water resources department official later said he had okayed draining water up to five feet, but a lot more was taken out. Authorities suspended Mr Vishwas from his post over the incident. And a few days back, the Chhattisgarh irrigation department sent him a letter penalizing him for his actions. It stated that Mr Vishwas had wasted 41 lakh liters of water. He has been fined Rs 53,000 for this. Kanker collector Priyanka Shukla had sought a report on the incident and also issued a show cause notice to Sub Divisional Officer Water Resources Department for allegedly giving verbal permission to drain out water from the structure. When first reported, the incident had triggered outrage in the country. Many politicians criticized the official's actions and said that the water could have been put to better use in a country where several regions face water shortages, especially in the scorching summer months.
