Railways To Install Sanitary Napkin Machines In 200 Stations

As part of International Women’s Day celebrations, the Railway Ministry has announced that it will install sanitary napkin dispensers and incinerators in about 200 major railway stations across the country.

Railway Women’s Welfare Central Organization (RWWCO) has started a production unit--‘Dastak’--that manufactures eco-friendly and affordable sanitary pads at the Sarojani Nagar Railway Colony centre, Delhi. It started from January 1, 2018, and focuses on making low-cost eco-friendly and hygienic sanitary pads.

The unit comprises a pad making machine. It uses wood pulp, gel sheet, back sheet, net, non-woven sheet, silicone paper, which are all biodegradable to make the sanitary napkins. After manufacturing, these napkins are sterilized using ultraviolet rays.

One pack of sanitary napkins that contains six pads costs Rs 22. The ministry has said the cost will further decrease as the production increases

Dastak currently employs six people who produce about 400 napkins in one day.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal recently visited the production unit, said a press release. Goyal feels that such projects need scaling up and national transport should top in such social projects.

The ministry is planning to scale up operation of this self-help group initiative to cater to the requirement of all the pad dispensers that will be installed at all railway stations.

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One pack of sanitary napkins that contains six pads costs Rs 22. The ministry has said that the cost will further decrease as the production increases.

Menstruation and the narrative around sanitary napkins has picked up tremendously since last year. First, it was the tax on these sanitary products under GST, which led to movements like #LahuKaLagaan. Then came the Bollywood movie Padman on the life journey of real life hero in the subsidized sanitary napkin industry - Arunachalam Muruganantham.

Cheers to many more such initiatives!

Picture credit- Khabar India

More Stories by Poorvi Gupta