The Indian Railways wants to install sanitary napkin dispensers and incinerators at 200 major railway stations in the country by the International Woman’s Day on March 8. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal visited a production Unit named ‘Dastak’ on February 25. The unit was started by Railway Women’s Welfare Central Organization (RWWCO) for making eco-friendly and affordable “sanitary pads”. The production unit is located at the Sarojini Nagar Railway Colony.
Delighted to visit ‘Railway Women Welfare Central Organisation’, where women are doing amazing work of manufacturing low-cost sanitary napkins, ‘Dastak’. Initiatives like these will bring awareness to grassroots where the pricing & accessibility of sanitary pads is the real issue pic.twitter.com/24SpYYR97c
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 25, 2018
Dastak unit is dedicated to the production of low-cost eco-friendly sanitary pads.The setup includes a sanitary pad manufacturing machine. Raw materials like wood pulp, gel sheet a back sheet, net, non-woven sheet, silicone paper are used which are all biodegradable. The napkins after packing are sterilised using ultraviolet rays. The unit at present employes six women and produces 400 pads a day. Scale up and improvements are being planned.
Chairman of Railway Board Ashwani Lohani has stated that efforts are underway to cover about 200 major Railway stations and Railway premises by March 8, 2018, International Women’s Day. The initiative will help women employees and women of financially weaker sections of the society.
The Bhopal Railway station in January had become India’s first Railway station to be installed with a sanitary napkin vending machine.
Akshay Kumar all praise for Bhopal railway station’s initiative in installing a sanitary napkin vending machine.https://t.co/XQdP7ahDtA
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) January 13, 2018
After Bhopal, Nanded and Aurangabad Railway stations have followed the example and installed sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators for the benefit of women passengers and employees. The New Delhi Railway Station, as well as the headquarters of the Northern Railways at Baroda House, had already seen vending machines and incinerators being installed.
The Railway Minister said that the woman self-help groups undertaking such initiatives should be encouraged to scale up their production and Indian Railways will lead the way in the socially beneficial cause.
