While India boasts of an amazing railway system, with Bhopal Junction’s new feature, the nation can truly speak wide of its achievements and convenience. Bhopal Junction has become the first railway station in the country to install a sanitary napkin vending machine. Keeping the urgent necessities of women commuters in mind, the Junction has made a trend-setting and smart move through the vending machine.
The sanitary napkin vending machine in the Bhopal dispenses not one but two sanitary napkins for the small amount of Rs. 5! This makes access to sanitary hygiene for female passengers very affordable and accessible as well.
The sanitary napkin dispenser was installed in 2018 by the Railway Women Welfare Association of Bhopal and it’s been promptly named ‘Happy Nari’. The inauguration of the installation had all railway officials in attendance. The senior class four worker at Bhopal Junction, Anjali, proceeded with the inaugural events on January 1 of 2018.
The dispensing machine, Happy Nari, has the capacity to hold up to 75 sanitary pads. Over 500 sanitary napkins were provided by a local NGO on the very first day. Over 600 napkins were dispensed from the machine within a span of 8-9 hours on the first day. The response has been very welcoming as well as overwhelming.
This new move has been applauded and encouraged by many as several women from slums, other than those who commute, often can now avail sanitary pads at a very affordable price.
Akshay Kumar new movie Padman is based on a life of Arunachalam Muruganantham who stood for the welfare of women and developed sanitary pads.
Bhopal Junction’s next plan of action is to set up an efficient way to dispose of sanitary waste by setting up incinerators. This is planned to be set up by the end of January and is planned to be set up in the women’s waiting room.
This also further encourages NGOs and local sanitary napkin manufacturers to produce more low-cost pads. Also, read about the air hostess who go caught in jet airways flight with millions of US dollars.
