Punjab SACS Scared of Ghosts

[Guest guest]

The ghosts didn’t have a chance

AIDS control team enters the building only after path

Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service, Chandigarh, February 1

If the staff of the Punjab State AIDS Control Society

(PSACS) had their way, perhaps they would have not

liked to shift to their new office in Prayaas, Sector

38. Reason - the place is believed to be haunted; it

has not been occupied in many years.

So when they moved into the new premises this morning,

they were not alone. By their side was the Holy Guru

Granth Sahib, brought in from Sector 38 gurdwara,

located closeby. A granthi also came along to “purge

the place of evil”. At the end of the “path” of Shri

Sukhmani Sahib, he said: “Now there is no reason for

anyone to fear; Guru Sahib has blessed the place and

rid it of all profanity.”

The religious offering continued for an hour and was

attended by doctors from various components of AIDS

control programme, including antiretroviral therapy

and blood safety. Assistant project director PSACS Dr

N.M. Sharma, however, said the “path” had nothing to

do with anyone’s fears or haunting. “It had been

planned well in advance because we were moving to a

new office. It is a normal practice,” he said.

But sources say otherwise, adding that ghost stories

about the place had been bothering the staff which

insisted on having a religious offering for good omen.

News also is that two of the class IV employees of the

PSACS on duty in the new premises last night, today

told their authorities that they had experienced a

haunting last night.

Rupinder Singh and Birinder Singh reportedly heard

strange noises when they were sleeping on the fourth

floor, where the new PSACS office is located. Today

their representative Surmukh Singh from PSACS even

brought the issue to the notice of project director

PSACS T.R. Sarangal, who had come visiting.

It is further learnt that both men at the new building

last night have asked their authorities if they could

be allowed to stand guard on the ground floor instead

of the fourth floor. Meanwhile, labourers at work in

the building admitted they had heard ghost stories

about the place, but these, they said, had more to do

with the fact that the place is deserted. “It’s all

psychological,” they said.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080202/cth1.htm#4