India, May 2 -- New Delhi

The Delhi government will launch the DEVI (Delhi Electric Vehicle Interconnector) bus scheme with a fleet of 400 buses on Friday, officials aware of the matter said, after its launch was postponed due to a three-day mourning for the passing of Pope Francis.

Officials said a few 12-metre buses will also be a part of the fleet, which predominantly comprises nine-metre buses, to compensate for around 700 end-of-life vehicles that were removed from the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) fleet last week.

"These new buses will operate on routes from which buses were removed as per court orders as they had reached end of life. Meanwhile, we are also carrying out route rationalisation process to ensure that maximum adv...