Indore: Women left in the lurch in city as sanitary pad dispensers in public places run dry

Indore (Madhya Pradesh

Sanitary napkin dispensing machines, which have been installed by Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) and also by women and child development department in public places in the city are running dry, defeating the purpose for which they were installed – helping women during emergency.

A reality check showed that there were no pads in the dispensers at Chappan Dukan, Sarafa, Rajwada etc which are frequented by thousands of women every day. They had also been installed in most of washrooms in the city, and most of them are not functioning.

Sughna Chauhan, who has a shop in Chappan Dukan said, “The machine was in a working condition but due to lack of care and public mischief the machine was damaged and never repaired. Now, I tell women who come looking for pads at the dispenser to buy it from one of medical shops nearby.”

The worker in-charge of the dispenser said that for the past 2 months the stock of sanitary napkins hasn’t arrived. Due to which the machine is locked. There is always a demand from people coming here. When a five rupee coin is put in the slot, a sanitary pad comes out of the machine.

Asked why the sanitary napkin dispensing machines were not functioning in the city, Ramniwas Budheliya, assistant director of Integrated Child Protection Scheme, tried to shift the blame from his department, “Not all sanitary dispensing machines are installed by our department, few are installed by NGOs, so we do not have control over the machines that have not been installed by us. Also, the maintenance of the machines is done by NGOs, so it is their responsibility,” he said, adding that he would get the machines examined. “We will talk about this a few days later.”

Ashish Kapse, chief sanitation inspector said that the machines are under maintenance and the tender of maintenance of the machines has been given to a new company named MNM and the machines will be up and running within a month.”