Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma's decision to establish a government dispensary at the residence of former councillor Rohtas Singh Dabas despite the availability of several other alternatives has led to a furore in the otherwise sleepy village. Rules state that if there are community centres available in the area, then the government should open a dispensary there and not on private premises.

According to Kuldeep Singh, a resident of the area: ``We have two community centres as well as a panchayat ghar in the village. The government could have opened a dispensary at any of these places, yet they chose a private residence to do so. It is a clear violation of the government rules. Just because Rohtas Singh is from the BJP, the government has taken his house on rent''.

Local BJP MLA Chand Ram agrees with him. ``Some villagers had objections to the location of the dispensary, since there is a community centre in the village. So I asked the government to look into the matter. I talked to Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan as well as the CM. The latter told me it was too late to reverse the decision since Rohtas Singh had already altered his premises as per specifications and if he changed his decision, Rohtas Singh would suffer financially''.

Despite objections, the Chief Minister went ahead with the plan. Irked with the decision, Kuldeep Singh moved court. The case is now pending before the civil judge Ramesh Kumar at the Tis Hazari courts. In the meantime, the dispensary was inaugurated by Sahib Singh on September 18.

Admitting that first priority should have been given to the community centre, Rohtas Singh said it was not spacious enough to house the dispensary. ``The government has rented my entire house, eight rooms in all. The community centre is much smaller and moreover the government is already running tailoring classes and have taken one room for storing sports equipment there. They cannot take over the whole space as they have to leave a few rooms for wedding functions''.

He claimed that Kuldeep Singh had moved court because his application for opening the dispensary at his residence was rejected by the government. ``The officials came and inspected the place before giving their approval. In fact I have spent Rs 40,000 on alterations so that it meets their requirements. So far even the rent has not been decided,'' he claimed.