measure, Koraput district administration in Odisha has decided to distribute hygienic sanitary napkins among girls studying in residential schools for SC and ST students.
"Adolescent girl students in sevashrams rarely use sanitary napkins during their menstrual cycle as the price of napkins available in the market is very high. They use pieces of cloth, which increases chances of infection," said Koraput district Collector Sachin Jadab.
Therefore, it has been decided to supply sanitary napkins to them at an affordable cost, he said.
The administration has also established a sanitary napkin manufacturing unit at the district headquarter town at an estimated cost of around Rs 10 lakh under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP).
Opened on October 4, the unit is being managed by 'Adarsh', a women self-help group.
Officials said each pack of sanitary napkins containing at least seven pads would cost Rs 21. These would be given to around 15,000 girls enrolled at various sevashrams across the district.
"The government gives Rs 30 to each girl student at the sevashrams to meet their sanitary expenses. The napkins would be purchased from this fund", said project administrator ITDA (Koraput) Tuku Barik.
Meanwhile, the napkin manufacturing unit has also provided a much needed financial security to 12 women of the SHG, who were in desperate need of a permanent source of income. In less than a month after its establishment, the unit has manufactured over 6,000 pads and aims to increase the production in coming months.
