Islamabad: The Delhi-Lahore bus service, which was earlier scheduled to begin on July 1, is now likely to start from July end or early August. Visa and security issues have reportedly caused the inordinate delay.

Announcing this, Pakistan Tourism Minister Raees Munir Ahmed on June 24 said, "An agreement has already been concluded with the Indian transport officials in talks at New Delhi last week but the service could only start after visa and security related issues are settled," the Minister told a news conference.

"We are confident that the bus service will start plying as soon as these matters are resolved," he said, adding the service could re-open late next month or in early August. The Minister said two new 'Hino' buses with a capacity of 42 seats have been added to the previous two buses to provide more comfortable service to the passengers.

Earlier on June 20, the two countries had agreed in principle to restart the bus service from July 1, but subject to the availability of visas to the crews on both sides. Also, the Pakistani side had announced the settling of dues of about Rs 19 lakh of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) within six days.

A technical team consisting of three officers from the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) headed by DMD (Operations) had visited India to sort out the technical and financial aspects. It was decided in the meeting that the passports of Pakistani crews be forwarded to the relevant forum soon.

ANI