36-year-old Emiliya from Pakur district is one of the most experienced CCs in terms of work experience as a social activist. During her decade long association with Ekta Parishad, she has worked on issues of land, forests and water rights. Growing from strength to strength, Emiliya also teaches the girls in her village for free. Like the case often is…

Emiliya Hansda

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The residents of Dumnabad village of Jharkhand were a confused lot when they received a monthly electricity bill, for they had had no electricity in their village for a few months. The newly installed 10-Kv transformer, under the centre's rural electrification scheme Deendayal Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), had gone bust in March 2015, after hardly functioning for six months. The residents, mostly persons from Below Poverty Lines (BPL) from the Mouli tribe were served two more electricity bills, while they spent their days in darkness.

Our Jharkhand Video Volunteer community correspondent Emiliya Hansda decided to take up this issue and make a video on the same, to highlight the complacent nature of the regional offices of the state's electrical offices.

While the administration was proactive in sending electricity bills, they were not as proactive when the Dumnabad citizens went with a complaint about the dysfunctional transformer. "When we submitted the application, the block engineer said that he will transfer it to the office in Pakur. When we asked for an acknowledgement for the application, he refused it to us," said Babudan Mouli. The question that Emiliya, however, has to ask is, how were the residents charged for the electricity that they never used? "There should be an investigation into the matter," appeals Emiliya.

The question that Emiliya, however, has to ask is, how were the residents charged for the electricity that they never used? "There should be an investigation into the matter," appeals Emiliya.

Call to Action: Call Vidhanand Sharma, the sub-divisional officer of Pakur, Jharkhand on +91-9431156194 and demand that Dumnabad village gets a new transformer, and that an investigation is set up to look into the matter of the wrongly charged electricity bills.

This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Emiliya Hansda.

Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories. See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change.