"On Sunday, it was decided to check the water tank. When a person went up the tank, he discovered to his horror four dead monkeys floating and half a dozen live monkeys sitting around," said a resident of the staff quarters in the hospital premises.

 The bodies were disposed of and the hospital management ordered that the tank be cleaned up. Water stored by 35 families living in the complex was thrown away and all tanks and utensils thoroughly washed. But some patients naturally panicked and fled the hospital.

 Medical Superintendent BD Pathak told mediapersons that the overhead water tank was still incomplete and had not yet been handed over to the hospital by the public works department. "The connections were taken unofficially," Pathak said.

 Agra has been grappling with the monkey menace for a long time with two people even dying of monkey bites in recent months.

The SN Medical College Hospital, which is some two kilometres from the district hospital, is another haven for monkeys. These animals surface often in crowded localities like Belanganj and Rawat Para as well.

The municipal corporation with support from philanthropist Mukesh Jain had launched a monkey catching campaign twice in two years but was halted after intervention by Maneka Gandhi.

"It seems that monkeys are competing with humans in the reproduction rate. The whole city is terrorised by monkeys and we are nowhere close to a solution," said Jain.