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A government official in India has been suspended after draining millions of litres of water from a local reservoir over two days in order to retrieve his mobile phone.

Picnic

The official, 32-year-old Rajesh Vishwas, is a food inspector for Pakhanjur Town in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh state in central India.

He was at the reservoir for a picnic with some friends when he dropped his mobile phone while trying to take a selfie, according to the Indian Express.

The phone, said to be a Samsung S23 Ultra valued at RS95,000 (S$1,554), had been bought by Vishwas a few months earlier.

The device slipped from his grasp and fell into the reservoir with a depth of 3m (10ft).

Villagers in the area, who Vishwas said he had a good rapport with, dove into the water to help him find his phone, but were unable to do so.

According to Vishwas, he was told by the villagers that they would be able to locate his phone if there were 1m (3ft) less water in the reservoir.

Vishwas said he then called the sub-divisional officer from the Water Resources Department, who he said verbally gave him permission to drain the water.

He then rented a pair of diesel pumps and proceeded to pump out the water over the next two days.

Defending his actions, he accused the media of exaggerating the event, and was quoted by Indian Express as saying that the water in the reservoir was only used by "picnickers for bathing and not for irrigation or any similar purpose".

According to the National, Vishwas said the sub-divisional head had told him that draining the water would not be an issue, and would benefit local farmers who would then have more water.

Vishwas' phone was ultimately retrieved, but was no longer in a functional state due to water damage.

Suspension and repayment

Adding to his woes, Vishwas has been suspended by the district administration, after an official from the Water Resource Department arrived at the reservoir and forced him to stop pumping the water.

An official for the district, Priyanka Shukla said Vishwas had been suspended, adding that he had no authority to drain the water, and that it could have been used by villagers and animals during times of extreme heat.

The officer who Vishwas said gave him verbal permission to remove the water is also facing disciplinary action, with a show cause notice having been served to him asking him to explain his actions.

The notice said his giving of verbal permission to release the water without approval from a more senior official amounted to misconduct.

A letter has apparently been sent to the state secretary of the Water Resources Department to make both Vishwas and the officer pay for the wasted water.

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Top image via @ramanmann1974/Twitter