JAMMU, Feb 27: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the start of a bus service connecting the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Indian-held Kashmir, due to begin on April 7, could be delayed.

Mr Singh, on a day-long visit to the region, was speaking in Jammu, the winter capital of Indian-held Kashmir, after surveying the devastation wrought by avalanches that have claimed 252 lives.

India and Pakistan had agreed to launch the bus service after talks in Islamabad on February 16. But an official said bad weather has hampered repairs to the road connecting Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.

Talking to reporters, Mr Singh said New Delhi was in talks with Islamabad to start another bus connecting Jammu and the Pakistani city of Sialkot. "We are talking to Pakistan on this issue as well and when any decision will emerge, it will be made public," he said.

Earlier, Mr Singh, accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, made a survey by helicopter of the flattened hamlets, an official said. "He flew over all the affected villages along the mighty Pir Panjal ranges," he said, adding that the prime minister was moved by the scenes of devastation.

Mr Singh and his party flew over the village of Waltingo, home to around 740 people and one of six villages 80 kilometres south of the summer capital Srinagar that were hit by avalanches.

Besides Mr Patil, Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the state's ruling political group the People's Democratic Party, joined the tour.

Army helicopter gun ships provided security for Mr Singh. The state official said the prime minister later flew to the winter capital Jammu, where he met top state officials to review relief and rescue operations.

At the end of the Mr Singh announced compensation of Rs100,000 to the families of each of the dead, and Rs500 million to the state government for carrying out relief and rescue operations. -AFP