Chandigarh, Sep 30 (IANS): The Punjab government will soon release grants for aided private colleges in the state, a minister said Tuesday.

Higher Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra directed senior officers of the education department to release all pending grants of aided private colleges in the state.

Hundreds of teachers in private aided colleges in Punjab held a protest on Teachers' Day Sep 5 - against the failure of the state government to release grants to these colleges.

The state's 136 aided colleges which have been getting 95 percent grant-in-aid from the Punjab government for the past 35 years, have been left in the lurch with the grants not being released for over a year.

As a result, teachers in these colleges have not been given salaries for months.

Rakhra told officers of the higher education department that if they did not perform, they will have to face action.

The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers' Union (PCCTU), an apex body of teachers from aided colleges, had been seeking release of grants.

PCCTU vice-president Jagwant Singh said that higher education was suffering due to the apathy of the state government.