I Invited Harsimrat Kaur Badal And Bikram Majithia To Check Road Quality, But They Ran Away: Harbhajan Singh ETO

Maisarkhana (Bathinda), August 23, 2026: Cabinet Minister for Public Works Harbhajan Singh ETO on Saturday said that Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Majithia did not show up after he invited both leaders to Bathinda to check the quality of the road they had criticised. The Minister had challenged them to reach the spot and even uproot the road by hand to prove their claims, but neither turned up when he inspected the road on Sunday.
The Minister also inspected the Maisarkhana-Tittarsar Sahib road and the newly constructed Kotbhara-Ramgarh Bhundar road in Bathinda district, days after a video claiming that the newly constructed road could be broken with hands was circulated on social media.
Taking to X, Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO stated: “The Mann government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, does not compromise on the quality of development works. Upon a video regarding the newly constructed road in Bathinda coming to light, an inspection was conducted on the spot. The road's material was found to be proper, and samples were taken to be sent to the lab for testing. Ensuring transparency and accountability in every work done with the people's money is the Mann government's top priority.”
Referring to the challenge, Harbhajan Singh ETO said, “Yesterday, I challenged Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Majithia to come to the spot today and uproot the road with their hands, as they were claiming. I came here at the given time and inspected the road, but neither of them was present. If they were so confident about their claims, they should have come and demonstrated them at the spot.”
The Minister inspected the Maisarkhana-Tittarsar Sahib road and expressed satisfaction with the ongoing work. He said, “The quality of the road work has been found satisfactory. The Mann Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Punjab S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, will not compromise with the quality of development works. Every single penny of people’s tax money is being utilised properly, with complete transparency and accountability.”
Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO also inspected the newly constructed road from village Kotbhara to village Ramgarh Bhundar. A sample of the road material was collected at the spot by the Quality Control Centre, Patiala, for laboratory testing.
The Minister said, “The road has been constructed according to the prescribed standards. The sample has been taken for laboratory testing so that the quality can be verified scientifically as well. If any deficiency is found in the road work, strict action will be taken against the concerned contractor as per the rules.”.
Taking on the video circulated on social media, Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said, “The video showing the road being broken with hands is completely fake. The opposition has no real issue left against the development work being carried out by the Mann Government, so misleading propaganda is being spread. The people of Punjab are aware and they know the difference between development work and false propaganda.”
He added, “The Bhagwant Mann Government is undertaking construction and renovation of 45,000 kilometres of roads across the state, while work on upgrading link roads has also been initiated. Our priority is to ensure that every road is constructed with quality and that every rupee of public money is accounted for.”
MLA Maur Sukhvir Singh Maisarkhana, Chairman Improvement Trust Jatinder Singh Bhalla and Chairman Punjab Medium Industries Development Board Neel Garg were also present.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate Maur Gurjinder Singh, Chief Engineer Anil Gupta, Superintending Engineer Anil Sharma, Executive Engineer Onkar Singh and other officials of the Public Works Department were present during the inspection.