Key Points
- Indian government official Rajesh Vishwas dropped his phone in a reservoir while taking a selfie.
- After initial attempts to salvage the phone, he deployed a diesel pump to drain the entire reservoir.
- Mr Vishwas claimed the water was from the dam's overflow section and was not being used.
A government official in central India has been suspended after he ordered locals to drain a water reservoir in a bid to retrieve a smartphone he dropped while taking a selfie.
The 32-year-old food inspector, Rajesh Vishwas, dropped his Samsung smartphone in Kherkatta dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh and first asked local divers to recover the phone, claiming it contained sensitive official data, according to local media reports.
After the divers were unable to find his phone, Mr Vishwas hired a diesel pump and asked for the reservoir to be emptied. It was drained over three days.
More than two million litres of water were drained from the reservoir, which could irrigate about 605 hectares of land, according to the Times of India.
In videos that went viral on social media, Mr Vishwas is seen sitting under a red umbrella as diesel pumps run to empty the reservoir.
Mr Vishwas eventually was able to get his phone back but it couldn’t be brought back to life as it was waterlogged.
Authorities later suspended Mr Vishwas amid public outcry against the misuse of government power and waste of valuable water resources.
“Vishwas has been suspended with immediate effect. He pumped out water without seeking formal permission. This is unacceptable,” his suspension order stated.
However, Mr Vishwas claimed in a video statement that he did seek permission from a subdivisional officer to drain the water and that the water drained was from the dam's overflow section which was not being used.
Mr Vishwas apologised for his actions, saying that he was "in a state of panic" when he dropped his phone but accused the media of “exaggerating” the incident.
According to the World Bank, India has 18 per cent of the world’s population, but only 4 per cent of its water resources, making it among the most water-stressed in the world.
