To Recover His Costly Phone, Govt Official Drains 21 Lakh Ltr Water from Reservoir in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: A government official in Chhattisgarh allegedly drained out 21 lakh liters of water from a reservoir to recover his expensive phone that had fallen into it. He claimed that the water was “unusable” and he got prior verbal permission from the local Sub Divisional Officer.

The man behind this was Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector in the Koilibeda block of the Kanker district. He was picnicking at the Kherkatta Dam when his smartphone worth Rs 1 lakh fell into in the overflow area of the reservoir where the depth of water was 15 feet.

When all efforts to physically recover the phone failed, the officer got two 30hp diesel pumps running continuously for three days to empty out 21 lakh liters of water. This much water could have irrigated 1,500 acres of agricultural land. But at last, he could get his phone out. The phone isn’t working after three days in deep water.

The pumps were stopped from draining water on Thursday when an official from the irrigation and water resource department reached the spot after a complaint and got it stopped.

The water resources department official later told local journalists that he had given verbal permission to drain water up to five feet, but a lot more was taken out.