By Dharmendar Mahapatra: Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector from Chhattisgarh who drained water from a reservoir to retrieve his phone has been asked to pay Rs 53,092 by the Water Resources Department as a fine.

In a letter issued by the Water Resources Department, he has been asked to pay a fine for wasting the water in the reservoir.

“The water filled in the diesel cistern has been wasted by taking it out for extraction, which is illegal and comes under the category of punishment under the clauses contained in the Irrigation Act,” the letter read.

The official was asked to pay the fine within 10 days at the Jagdalpur divisional office of the department.

WATER DRAINED FOR LOST PHONE

Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas, posted in the Pakhanjore area of the district, had visited the Kherkatta Paralkot reservoir on May 21. He dropped his Samsung S23 phone worth Rs 96,000 into the 15-foot-deep water.

A panicked Vishwas reached out to the Irrigation Department and discussed ways to retrieve his phone. Eventually, a 30-horsepower pump was deployed to drain the reservoir’s water, resulting in the discharge of the stored water.

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Twenty-one lakh litres of water was drained in a day. And the ‘mission mobile khojo’ went on for a full three days. He did recover his phone, which he claimed had “important contacts”, but it was no longer in working condition.

Vishwas later justified his action saying the water was unusable for irrigation and he had got permission from a senior official. In a conversation with India Today, the official also said that the villagers insisted on finding his phone and that the whole exercise cost only Rs 7,000-8,000.