Visakhapatnam: A group of women from the city are working towards providing sanitary napkins to the poor for Rs 2. Taking inspiration from Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor from Coimbatore who developed a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine, Sonia Gupta, the president of Rotary Club Visakhapatnam Central and her team of women members are working towards spreading awareness of the product in and around Vizag.

They have installed a sanitary napkin manufacturing machine at the Physically Challenged Welfare Empowerment Centre at Zilla Parishad, where the small-scale industry is run by physically challenged women.

Ms Gupta said that though sanitary napkins are a basic necessity for every woman, this is a topic that many shy away from. “All these years, I have seen people talking about toilets for girls, safe drinking water and many other issues. But when it comes to menstrual cycle and pads, we are very uncomfortable discussing the topic. When I got the idea of setting up a unit to manufacture these napkins, I was also hesitant to talk to my club members about it, but I felt that this was something which each woman should discuss and be part of the cause; and the project took off only because of their support.”

“Each napkin is manufactured at the cost of Rs 2 and a packet containing eight napkins is sold for Rs 20. The product will empower young girls and women to address their monthly challenge hygienically and confidently,” added Ms Gupta.