Officials of India and Pakistan who met in New Delhi for two days have settled the dues of the Delhi-Lahore bus service, but the date of the resumption of the service has not yet been finalised.
The officials addressed reporters after a two-and-half-hour meeting Friday afternoon.
Delhi Transport Corporation chairman-cum-managing director A J S Sahney said: "The modalities for the resumption of the bus service has been worked out and the accounts have been settled."
The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation will pay Rs 2.4 million that it owes to DTC. The DTC had spent this money on the passengers' food, while the bus returned from Lahore.
"Pakistan will pay the money within few days," he said.
The service that started in 1999 was stopped in December 2001 after the attack on Indian Parliament for which New Delhi blamed militant groups backed by Pakistan.
The officials said the service would resume tentatively on July 1, but were not sure about the exact date.
They said the service would start as soon as the passengers willing to avail this facility and the crewmembers of the bus get their visas to travel to the respective countries.
It takes about a month to get visas, and therefore the resumption of the service may get postponed for few days.
Azfar Shafqat, deputy managing director of Pakistan Tourism development Corporation, said, "If you don't have visa, you can't do bookings (of the tickets)."
"The concerned departments are working to give visas at the earliest," Sahney said.
The three-member Pakistani delegation headed by Shafqat arrived in New Delhi on Thursday via Dubai due to no direct travel link between India and Pakistan. They will return on Saturday.
Officials of the ministry of home affairs and external affairs, DTC, Delhi Police and the state transport department participated in the two-day meet.
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