It is a quiet Sunday morning in Northwest Delhi’s Gogha village. Some residents can be seen sitting in a group, playing cards while some are sleeping on the cots placed nearby. Not too far is a community hall, which has been at the heart of a controversy.The calm in the village on Sunday follows several eventful days — Delhi Development Authority (DDA) placing an ‘inauguration’ plaque at the community hall on September 24, a resident allegedly removing it after claiming that the facility needs repair, and then getting arrested over the act for “destroying” public property on September 27. He was released on bail the same day.The plaque is gone but concerns remain regarding the repair and cleanliness of the Brahmin Chaupal, the community hall at the centre of the dispute.The metal plaque was placed at the facility after officials had live telecast event organised at a nearby village Pooth Khurd, attended by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and CM Rekha Gupta on September 24th. In a post on X, Gupta had then said that more than 80 development projects costing over Rs 700 crore have been inaugurated for 50 villages, under the ongoing Sewa Pakhwada initiative. The plaque mentioned that the community hall was inaugurated under the Delhi Gramodaya Abhiyan, and took place with the L-G as the chief guest and CM Gupta as the special guest.However, Ravish Bhardwaj (34), a resident who was later arrested, alleged that the unit was constructed in 2007. In a purported video on social media, he could be seen removing the plaque while making the allegations.Post the incident, DDA on X released a statement: “A fake video is being circulated claiming that no work was done at the Chaupal in Ghoga village inaugurated on September 24, 2025. Acts of vandalism have also surfaced, which are highly condemnable. This is being spread by those with vested political interests.”An FIR was registered as two DDA officials filed the complaint at a local police station. Bhardwaj was booked under Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public property Act 1984 and Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honours Act 1971. He was later presented before a court in Rohini and secured bail.The officials in the FIR stated that the accused was trying to mislead people by circulating video through his social media handle, and demanded that the clip be taken down.Story continues below this adThe court, while granting bail, stated that the accused shall not upload such videos on social media, and shall not interact with villagers with respect to facts of the present case.On Sunday, as the air was thick with the stench from the toilet of the community hall, Renu Kaushik (42), a resident who has her departmental store and house near the Chaupal said, “It is an unpleasant sight to see men using the washroom everyday and leaving the door open. We have hygiene concerns too. If only authorities could change the direction of the access gate… This is a pressing issue.” Shiv Charan (54), who stays beside the community hall, claimed that some repair work took place about four-five months ago.“Some tiles were fixed and lights were installed. However, that did not help. The stench from the washroom comes even on the road. It was cleaned only once… that too when the virtual inauguration was taking place last month,” he said.A DDA official said, “The L-G, under the Delhi Gramodaya Yojana, has undertaken multiple projects, and DDA was given the responsibility to carry out repair and renovation work in the existing chaupals in the urban villages, not undertake any new construction work. We identified three sites in Ghogha— MPCC, Valmiki Chaupal and Brahmin Chaupal (the disputed one). We were asked by the officials to decide a place out of the three to put out the plaque, so we decided on this one.”The official added, “Least maintenance work was required in the Brahmin chaupal… existing structure was already ok. The work was carried out between August 3, 2024 and October 31, 2024. Damaged toilet gates and chipped off red stones were replaced, glasses fixed, the unit was painted and rainwater pipes were also installed. New toilet seats were also installed but some damage took place. However, DDA was given instructions to carry out all the repairs at one go. ”Story continues below this ad“On September 27 this year, we tried to bring super sucker machines to clean the toilet but locals were not cooperative enough. So we couldn’t complete the task. But the people using the washroom also don’t ensure basic sanitation,” said the official. A total expenditure of Rs 18.26 lakh was spent on the projects in Ghoga village, according to officials.Former village head Mange Ram (78) said, “Do they not understand the difference between inauguration and beautification? We should ask the authorities this question, aren’t the authorities misleading the villagers?”