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As issues related to menstrual hygiene in India come to the front, with Miss World Manushi Chhillar launching a campaign to raise awareness in rural India and Bollywood coming up with a movie called ‘Padman,’ the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to install two sanitary napkin vending machines at the Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri.
Airport officials said two such machines would be installed in the ladies washrooms by the end of this month, and that one sanitary pad would cost Rs 5. “The installation of the machines is a small step forward in ensuring comfort for women passengers and to address their basic hygiene needs.
The machines will also help eradicate the social taboo attached to menstruation,” Bagdogra Airport Director Rakesh Sahay said on Tuesday. “The easy-to-use machines require only a coin of Rs 5 for each napkin. One vending machine has the capacity to stock 300 pads, while the money collected from these will be utilised to refill them,” Mr Sahay added.
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According to him, the airport sees a total of 22 daily operational flights with 44 movements, 22 arrival flights and 22 departure flights, and it handles 7,000 passengers daily. The Airports Authority of India first installed such machines at the Indore airport in 2017, followed by the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, Bagdogra airport officials said.
It may be mentioned here that on a mission to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene, Miss Chhillar, along with Miss World contestants from other countries, arrived in north Bengal (Alipurduar and Mogolkata Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri) early this month. Miss Chhillar is on a tour of Indian villages for her ‘Feminine Hygiene Awareness’ global tour as part of her pilot project,’Shakti.’
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