'Ghosts' halt Himachal water supply

[Carol]

Shimla: Taps run dry after dark in several villages of Himachal Pradesh only because no one is brave enough to operate the pumps that are situated next to a cremation ground.

The Karjadi water supply scheme near Chintpurni in Una district, 230 km from here, was launched in February at a cost of Rs.4 million. But only after a few days, the water supply was hit in the night as an Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) employee refused to run the water lifting pumps due to fear of ghosts.

"Something stones are hurled into the air and sometimes there are human shrieks in the middle of the night," local media reports Thursday quoted unnamed staffers of the state IPH department as saying.

However, villagers dismiss this as an excuse by IPH staff to avoid working at night.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14428942