Goa, June 11 -- A group of residents from Anjuna staged a sit-in protest at the office of the Chief Engineer at Vidyut Bhavan on Thursday, alleging that their electricity bills for the current month were unusually high and demanding an explanation from the authorities.

The protesters claimed that consumers had received inflated power bills and accused the government of "extorting" the public through excessive charges in an alleged attempt to compel people to install smart electricity meters.

Raising slogans and voicing their grievances, the residents alleged that the sudden spike in billing had placed an unfair financial burden on households and questioned the accuracy of the electricity consumption recorded.

The protesters demanded a ...