Soon: Sanitary Pad Dispensers To Be Set Up For CRPF Women Personnel

The government has sanctioned funds to CRPF so that it can install around 500 sanitary pad dispensers and incinerators for the women personnel in combat. Funds have been allotted to set up 288 pad vending machines and as many incinerators as possible to scientifically dispose of used sanitary napkins, reports India Today.

Funding Allotted For Women CRPF

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the country's largest paramilitary force, has also been authorized to purchase 783 steel frame stands for drying clothes for all its six 'Mahila' battalions, 15 special anti-riot units of the Rapid Action Force and training institutions.Rs 2,10,69, 000, as per order, have been allotted to the force by the Union Home Ministry. The cost of one sanitary pad vending machine is estimated to be about Rs 25,000, a burning machine about Rs 40,000 and a cloth drying stand Rs 3,000, the Home Ministry order said.

Along with pad dispensers, the incinerators which destroy used pads will be soon installed for the convenience of women personnel in combat.

This expenditure will be met from the funds allocated to the force by the ministry. "The sanction will help the force in ensuring better living and operating conditions for the over 8,000 women personnel who are in combat. The women troops are deployed across the country for rendering law and order duties, anti-Naxal operations and other operational tasks that are rendered by men personnel," CRPF spokesperson Deputy Inspector General Moses Dhinakaran told the news agency PTI.

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According to a senior official, the CRPF had moved for this special 'gender-sensitive' budget allowance last year. A study conducted by IPS officer Renuka Mishra, currently an additional director general (ADG) in her cadre state of Uttar Pradesh a few years ago, had brought forward the various health and sanitation issues that women personnel had to face at workplace.

No Proper Place To Dry Their Undergarments

The officer, who was then an inspector general with border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal spoke to a number of women, mainly in constabulary ranks in state police forces and Central Armed Police Forces, regarding their health and sanitation conditions. The study also found that though the women personnel avoid drinking too much water so that they don't need to urinate, they also didn't have proper facilities to wash their clothes and even to dry their undergarments while on the job.

Rs 2,10,69, 000, as per order, have been allotted to the force by the Union Home Ministry. The cost of one sanitary pad vending machine is estimated to be about Rs 25,000, an incinerator about Rs 40,000 and a cloth drying stand Rs 3,000, the Home Ministry order said.

Not only this, but they had trouble disposing off the used sanitary napkins, since the male sweepers were reluctant to clean women's toilets. "The women personnel said it was difficult for them to dry their innerwear due to lack of facilities. Clothes remained damp as they did not dry due to lack of sunlight, and led to urinary tract infections in women," Mishra said, welcoming the latest sanction of cloth drying racks for the CRPF women.

"The entire effort of the study and the national conference on women in the police was to create a conducive and unobtrusive work environment for women personnel who are giving their best despite all the problems they face," she said.

Picture Credit: India Today

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