HYDERABAD, Nov 20: Ex-employees of Sindh Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) have warned of self-immolation if their dues were not paid before Eid.

A large number of ex-employees of SRTC under the banner of ex- employees action committee staged a protest demonstration outside the Hyderabad press club here on Tuesday against the non- payment of their golden handshake amount and other dues.

Speaking at the rally Ghulam Mohammad Depar, Harrison David and Syed Irshad Ali Shah said the SRTC was dissolved on December 06, 1999 under a written agreement with the employees union that the employees will be paid their dues by December 2000.

They regretted even after the passage of 23 months the workers had not been paid their dues.

They alleged the SRTC chairman Ibrahim Patel, who had misappropriated tens of millions of rupees at the time of dissolution of Karachi Transport Corporation, had again embezzled tens of millions of rupees during the winding-up of the SRTC.

They added Mr Patel was paying tens of thousands of rupees in salaries to his cronies who were sitting at their homes.

They said while the workers had been paid only Rs20,000 to Rs80,000 in instalments against their outstanding amounts of golden handshake, the officers had been paid Rs500,000 to Rs700,000 as golden handshake amount.

They warned if the former employees were not paid their outstanding dues before Eid in one instalment, the responsibility for the consequences will rest on the SRTC chairman.

They announced a schedule of protest movement according to which they will stage hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club on November 28 which will continue till the resolution of their problems.

On December 5, they will observe the third death anniversary of Allah Bux alias Bhuro Chhalgari who had committed self-immolation in protest against the non- payment of the dues.

They said one worker will start observing hunger strike till death outside the Hyderabad press club on December 12.

They did not rule out self-immolation by one worker at the Hyderabad Eidgah on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr and threatened two workers will commit self-immolation every day from January 7.