LUCKNOW: Light to moderate rains in eastern UP on Tuesday came as a welcome relief for farmers. It also revived hope of monsoon revival in the state. However, the state met department predicted that eastern parts of the state would continue to get rains but Bundelkhand region, central and western parts might have to contend with cloudy skies with possibilities of rains at isolated places.

LUCKNOW: The week-long Van Mahotsav would come to a close on July 7. The Green Run-2009 will mark its formal conclusion on Tuesday. The run will start from KD Singh Babu stadium at 7.00am on the day and end at GPO Crossing.

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati on Thursday said that she would not impose any additional tax on the increased prices of diesel/petrol in order to give relief to people. The state tax input on the diesel would be 9 paise now sold at Rs 34.50 per litre and 22 paise on petrol sold at Rs 47.70 per litre after the price hike on Wednesday.

LUCKNOW: Pending since 2005, enactment of the UP Ground Water Conservation, Protection and Development (Management, Control and Regulation) bill will take some more time. The ground water department has decided to put the draft of the proposed law on its website for public objections and suggestions before starting the legislation process. This, if all goes well, may take at least an year.

LUCKNOW: Late arrival and now weak monsoon conditions have hit farmers hard. If the same trend continued for a weak, it is feared that the Kharif crop yield would drop by 20-30% this season. Adding to the woes of farmers is the poor power supply in the rural belt and the recent hike in diesel prices.

LUCKNOW: Launched with great fanfare, the ambitious Rs 50,000 crore Ganga Expressway project has put the Mayawati government in a no-win situation. While the project has so far remained a non-starter, the ruling BSP has had a bitter taste of its fiasco. The party has virtually faced a near rout in 17 districts proposed to be connected by this mega project.

LUCKNOW: The south-west monsoon on Tuesday has further advanced into remaining parts of UP and Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, some parts of east Rajasthan and many parts of Punjab and Haryana. But it seems to have lost its vigour again as the rainfall was comparatively less than usual when monsoon is active.

LUCKNOW: The crippling polio virus has inched closer to elimination in Uttar Pradesh. The fact was celebrated by the 20th India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) meeting held last week. Key messages circulated during the meeting said that there was only one family of type-1 polio virus circulating in the endemic states.

LUCKNOW: A five-arm clinical trial has been conducted in India to evaluate the residual immunity gap among children in western Uttar Pradesh and adapt future strategies in this regard. Conducted in several development blocks of Moradabad, the study is examining the immunogenecity of injectable and monovalent oral polio vaccines (IPV and mOPV) in the state.

LUCKNOW: Lucknowites need to wait a little to avail forest department's scheme to provide `plantation at one's doorstep'. Though it has been in existence since August, 2008 the delayed rains have put it on hold for some time.