The road quality row intensified in Bathinda district on Jattvibeday as Public Works Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO termed a viral video showing a newly constructed road in the district being broken with bare hands as completely fake and accused the Opposition of misleading people through false propaganda.However, some residents of Ramgarh Bhundar village who had gathered on the Kotbhara-Ramgarh Bhundar Road claimed that the minister did not visit the actual spot and turned back from Kotbhara village.They further accused the police of not allowing even senior officers to visit the spot and speak to them. “We appeal to the CM to come here himself to see the situation on the ground,” they said.Meanwhile, a video showing police allegedly twisting the arms of two youths at their residence in Ramgarh Bhundar village and trying to snatch a cellphone has also gone viral. The youths had allegedly shot the video of the road being easily broken by hand recently.Their family members are seen claiming that the police team took the mobile phones of all the family members into custody and also took control of access to the CCTV cameras.However, Sub-Inspector Harbans Singh, SHO of Kotfatta police station, said, “We had received a complaint from an Executive Engineer against the occupants of the house for allegedly harassing officials. When I, along with the team, visited the house, the occupants, including two boys, tried to snatch my cellphone and misbehaved with us today. They even tried to lock the entrance. Since two boys are involved in this incident, we will see whether any action is required.”Notably, Harbhajan Singh ETO had on Saturday challenged senior SAD leader-cum-Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and her brother-cum-former minister Bikram Singh Majithia to remain present during his inspection of the road. However, neither of them was present during the inspection on Jattvibeday.After inspecting the Maiserkhana-Tittarsar Sahib road, the minister expressed satisfaction with the quality of the work and said every penny of taxpayers’ money was being spent properly.He said the road projects were being executed with transparency and in accordance with the prescribed standards.He also claimed to have inspected the newly constructed road connecting Kotbhara and Ramgarh Bhundar villages. A sample of the road was collected by the Quality Control Centre, Patiala, for testing.The minister said the road had been constructed according to the prescribed standards but assured that strict action would be taken against the contractor if any deficiency was found.The minister said, “The Opposition has resorted to such propaganda as it has no issues left to raise. People are now aware enough not to be misled by such claims.”Maur MLA Sukhvir Singh Maiserkhana, Bathinda Improvement Trust chairman Jatinder Singh Bhalla, Punjab Medium Industries Development Board chairman Neel Garg and senior PWD officials were present during the inspection.Meanwhile, Harsimrat and Bikram Majithia again shared videos and alleged that the minister visited the stretch where the quality of road construction was good but did not go to the spot where the road quality was poor and village residents wanted to show him the condition, allegedly due to pressure from officials.Harsimrat also accused the police of harassing the family that had shot the video and mistreating the children.