RAWALPINDI, Dec 20: Two railway employees on Tuesday tried to commit suicide after failing to get their salaries on time.Sadaqat Waheed and Mohammad Rustam, who worked at the washing line of the Pakistan Railways, were scheduled to collect their salaries on December 15 but the money was not paid to them.

When some of their colleagues went to the accounts office for collecting salaries, they were told to wait further.

As a result, over 150 workers observed strike and staged a protest on Tuesday.

Later, Sadaqat and Rustam reached the divisional superintendent office and attempted suicide there. Sadaqat ingested diesel and Rustam set himself on fire.

The officials present on the spot saved them. Rustam received minor burn injuries and was provided first-aid while Sadaqat, a heart patient, was shifted to Railways Hospital.

Asim Sajjad of the Railway Workers Union said the employees were facing problems due to late payment of their salaries. He said one of the employees was a heart patient and had to borrow money for his treatment.

“We have received an employee of the railways who had drunk diesel in protest. The doctors washed his stomach and dispatched samples to laboratory for pathological examination,” said Mohammad Naseer, the Railway General Hospital spokesman.

He said the condition of the victim was stable but he was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The incident infuriated the railway employees who staged a protest and criticised the authorities for not releasing salaries on time.

Divisional Superintendent Syed Munawar Shah assured the employees that the injured would be provided medical treatment and the salaries of the employees would be paid by the afternoon. Later, the railways provided Rs4.5 million against thesalaries of the 150 employees.

When contacted, Mr Shah said due to some error, the bank had failed to release the amount on time. He said two weekly holidays on December 17 and 18 further delayed the salaries. He said all the 150 employees were paid their salaries onTuesday evening.