3 days,100 statues,10 parks,and multiplied

And that’s just the big elephants — there are smaller ones inside and outside the memorials and parks — and just the state capital.

Lucknow District Magistate Anil Kumar Sagar was wringing his hands over another matter: the Election Commission letter to him made no mention of the statues of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi had told the media Saturday that their statues would not escape its drive.

Officials of the LDA’s committee for “management,security and maintenance of memorials,museums,institutions,parks and upvans” pored over availability of polythene sheets to cover the statues,the efficacy of a brown fabric,the numbers under consideration and the metres to be multiplied today. Finally,in the evening,Bhawna Singh,Manager (Public Relations),said they would hand over the work of draping to a private firm.

Assistant Manager Manish Kumar Maurya has an idea though of the task at hand,having measured the elephants: length 7,200 mm,width 4,200 mm,height 4,600 mm. They haven’t got around to Mayawati yet.

EC to change 1st phase date

With the Muslim festival of Barawafat likely to fall on February 4,the date when the first phase of 60 Assembly segments in Uttar Pradesh are slated to vote,the Election Commission had decided to withhold its earlier announcement for holding polls on that day in the state while retaining all other six dates unchanged. For this purpose,the EC has requested the UP Governor to not issue the notification for the first phase of elections,pending its re-scheduling. According to the announced schedule,the formal notification for the first phase was slated to be issued on January 10.