Indian and Pakistani officials are meeting in Delhi this week to discuss when and how the Pakistani authorities will return Rs 2.4 million they owe to their Indian counterparts for running the Delhi-Lahore bus service before it was suspended following the December 13 terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.

S C Chaudhry, regional manager (interstate) of the Delhi Transport Corporation, told rediff.com, "There are certain formalities that need to be discussed before we start the (bus) service."

"We will also discuss how we can get the dues cleared. Though it is not prerequisite for the service to resume but we have to see how the matter could be sorted out. We will try to find out some mechanism for this," he said.

The Delhi-Lahore bus service is all set to resume from July 1, an official said on Monday.

The two golden coloured buses, which were being run on inter-state routes after the suspension of the service to Pakistan, have been given a fresh coat of paint.

"The buses have been renovated and are ready to ply. Earlier we were planning to buy new buses but it will take about two months time. So we will start the old ones for now. It has been renovated to international standards," he said.

He said the buses have been fitted with air-conditioners, a television set, a videocassette player and pushback chairs. It also has an air suspension system that reduces the effect of jerks.