Mumbai, Mar 30 (IANS): Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday urged the Centre to increase the salaries of teachers working in the schools of Coal India.

He said the salaries should be made at par with the rest of the government teachers.

Raising this issue in the Rajya Sabha, Raut said that these teachers are not even getting the minimum wages of labourers and they get a meagre amount of Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per month as salary.

"They teach the poor children of the labourers working in the coal mines across the country, these schools are known as 'Colliery Schools' which provide education free of cost to the children of coal mine workers," Shiv Sena MP said.

He also said that Coal India gets substantial funds under the Universal Education scheme (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) but they do not upgrade the education facilities in these schools.

He said only the children of the poor coal mine workers attend these schools and also said that the government has not taken any care of these schools.

Raut also said that recently Coal India has spent over Rs 200 crore in CSR activities but does not bother to improve the condition of these schools and the teachers.

Describing their condition as pathetic, the Shiv Sena lawmaker also said that the salary is not being given every month but they get one month's salary after a gap of three or four months.

These are 2,000 teachers in these Colliery Schools and after their retirement, they do not get any money or benefits, he added.

Raut urged the central government to give them a salary at par with the teachers of the state government at the earliest.

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha M. Venkaiah Naidu also directed the government that the Minister for Coal and Mines be informed about this.