In a step towards greater consumer ease for the traveler (something I did not consider very likely to happen in UP), the UP State Tourism Development Corporation has gone ahead and made online booking facility available for the various hotels and bungalows run by it. This has been done for now in 18 such facilities, and should be a boon for the budget traveler who would not want to book a room in an expensive private hotel:

In order to facilitate customer services, the UP State Tourism Development Corporation (UPSTDC) has gone online for bookings in the hotels and bungalows run by it. The online facility was launched on Monday and can be accessed at the departments website www.up-tourism.com.
Included in the list are the Hotel Gomti of Lucknow, Hotel Ilawarat of Allahabad, the tourist bungalow and the Taj Khema of Agra, the Gulistan complex of Fatehpur Sikri and the tourist bungalow of Varanasi in addition to others.
All credit card holders can go directly to the site to check the availability of the rooms and to make the payments directly. A minimum of 48 hours and a maximum of 60 days notice is required for the booking.

This is a useful feature. If they are able to maintain the web site facilities for online booking, then this will be a great feature.