The main railway station at Madhya Pradesh's capital of Bhopal has become the first station in the country to have an automated sanitary napkin-dispensing machine.
The machine was inaugurated on January 1 by the senior-most class-four worker in the station, Anjali Thakur, in the presence of railway officials.
The machine is unique in the sense that it dispenses two sanitary napkins at a cost of Rs. 5. Fondly named Happy Nari by the supporting local voluntary organisation, Aaarushi, the machine has a capacity to store 75 napkins at a time. It can be refilled easily by any person who has the key to operate it.
The machine was installed at platform number one by the Railway Women Welfare Association of Bhopal division. The machine will be maintained by the Bhopal Railway Station staff.
Interestingly on the very first day of its inauguration, it had to be refilled eight times as over 600 napkins were purchased by railway travellers and poor women living in slums around the station. The machine accepts Rs. 5 coins and dispenses two pads in one go.
Bhopal Railway Division Public Relations Officer Siddiqui said that the machine was introduced as a pilot project with support from local organisations. “If it goes off successfully, we will replicate this in other platforms and at the second Bhopal station of Habibganj,” he added.
Earlier, the state government had set up similar dispensing machines at some schools and hospitals where this model is running successfully.
