Incidental Actions of Indian Officials to Drain Water from Dams to Retrieve Samsung’s Dropped Cellphones

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – An official in India was punished after he asked for an important dam to be drained, in order to take his cellphone that was immersed in it.

Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector, was reportedly taking selfies, when smartphonesit fell into the Kherkatta Dam in Chhattisgarh last weekend.

BBC reported, Vishwas paid for a diesel pump to be brought to the dam. Quoted from Business InsiderWednesday (31/5/2023), to Indian media, he claimed that the smartphone contained sensitive government information.

It took workers three days to pump millions of liters of water out of the dam after divers failed to find the device. The Samsung HP for USD 1,200 can also be taken, even though water has entered it and cannot function.

It was not stated what type of smartphone was dropped into the water. But quoting PhoneArenabased on the price, some speculate it is a smartphone from the Galaxy S23 series.

For this, Vishwas was criticized for taking advantage of his position and wasting water. He is also known to have been suspended from his job.

Vishwas told local media he had obtained verbal permission from an official to drain the water into a nearby canal. The Indian official also claimed this would “actually benefit the farmers, who will have more water.”

Vishwas also denied “abusing” his position, saying the water being drained came from an overflowing section of the dam, and was not “in a usable condition.”

To TheNational, Priyanka Shukla, of the Cancer district authority, also said Vishwas had been suspended during the investigation. “Water is an important resource, and it cannot be wasted like this,” he said.

Times of India reported, the water wasted from the dam, can irrigate 1,500 hectares of land during the summer.

China’s population will soon be surpassed by India. The United Nations agency predicts that in the near future the population of Indian citizens will reach 1.43 billion.