The residents of an entire village were forced to take out a rally to the District Magistrate's Office, holding  their dyfunct electricity meter boards. This is the story of how that incident came to be.

The Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) was a scheme launched by Government of India for village electrification and for providing electricity distribution infrastructure in the rural areas. It is currently subsumed in the Dheendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY ) scheme.

Three years ago, a 25KV transformer and meters were installed for almost 100 families in Rohtas district of Bihar, under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural electricity infrastructure and Household electrification scheme. But after 3-4 days, the transformer malfunctioned and caught fire. Once the transformer burnt, these families started getting electricity bills ranging from Rs,1000- Rs.2000. During the installation, they remember being told that the usage of one bulb is to be free and that they wouldn't be charged for it. But since they refused to pay these bills, the electricity department started threatening them saying FIR's(First Information Report) would be filed against any defaulters. That is when all the residents decided to take out a rally to the District Magistrates office, following which the District Magistrate announced that the bills will be written off.