A Chhattisgarh food inspector was suspended last week after he reportedly drained 21 lakh litres of water from a reservoir after his expensive phone dropped into it.
His senior, RK Dhivar, was pulled up by the state after he verbally permitted the inspector to drain out water up to five feet to recover his ‘expensive phone’, reported NDTV.
The superintendent engineer of the Indravati project in a letter questioned sub-divisional officer RK Dhivar as to why the cost of water wasted must not be recovered from his salary considering that it is essential for irrigation and other purposes during summers.
The officer has reportedly fined Rs 53000 for allowing water to be drained.
The food officer was enjoying a holiday in Paralkot Reservoir of Kherkatta Dam when he dropped his smartphone worth Rupees one lakh into the stilling basin of the dam’s waste weir in an attempt to take a selfie with his friends.
After failed attempts of local divers into finding it, the officer brought in two 30 hp diesel pumps which ran continuously for three days and emptied 21 lakh litres of water from the reservoir that could help irrigate 1500 acres of land.
He claimed that the water was “unusable” and it was essential for him to retrieve his phone as it had confidential department data.
Animals and local farmers benefit from the reservoir that has 10 feet-deep water even during summer.
Dhivar reportedly told local scribes that he was okay with water up to five feet being drained out into the nearby canal however he stated that a lot more was drained out.
After much effort the phone was recovered, however, it did not work after being underwater for three days.
