Self-help group to provide low-cost sanitary pads to women

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 10

Girls and women living in rural and remote areas of the district will now be able to procure affordable sanitary pads, which are being manufactured by a self-help group in Sahibpura village of Ambala.

It is an initiative taken by the district administration to provide menstrual hygiene to women and girls who cannot afford expensive napkins.

The district had purchased a sanitary pad making machine a few years ago, but the machine had been lying idle. Recently, the Chief Minister’s good governance associate for Ambala, Archana, decided to start the project.

The self-help group named Ganesh, is a group of 12 women. The women were provided 15-day training and are expected to prepare 500 to 600 pads a day.

Speaking to The Tribune, Archana, said: “The project has been started under the Haryana State Rural Livelihood Mission. The group has been provided with the machine and raw material worth Rs 26,000, which has been provided by a company under its corporate social responsibility programme. It is a manual machine, but if everything goes right, we plan to bring in an automatic machine.”

“The pads will be provided to women through Anganwari workers. The girls in the middle to senior secondary schools will be provided with the pads. If the product gets a good response, we will expand the project. The pads are being made using wood pulp, glue stick and a 9-inch poly sheet. A pack of eight pads will cost Rs 15. The product is being tested as well and we have received positive feedback from the users,” she added.

An official said women usually don’t come out openly to accept that they had been using cloth. Two women, who had used the product, had accepted that the product was affordable.

The administration is targeting women living in the remote areas.

Captain Shakti Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said: “The problem that the self-help groups face is that they fail to find a market. Women can rope in their family members in the distribution channel. Sometimes, women and girls hesitate in asking for sanitary pads at shops, but these will now be available at low-cost at Balika Manch in schools and with anganwari workers as well.”