Bhubaneswar railway station gets sanitary napkin vending machine

An automatic sanitary napkin vending machine has been installed at the Bhubaneswar railway station by the East Coast Railway Women's Welfare Organisation (ECoRWWO), an official said.

From the machine named - Happy Nari - which was installed on Monday inside the 2nd class ladies waiting for the hall on Platform No one, anybody can get a napkin by inserting a Rs 5 coin only, Madhulika Singh president of the ECoRWWO said. "The effort is to ensure comfortable and dignified journey for women train passengers," she said.

Bhubaneswar station has become the first railway station in the state to have installed such a machine. The machine has a capacity of storing 75 sanitary napkins which will be refilled by a woman staff in the waiting room, she said.

Bhopal station was the first railway station in the country to have installed such a machine on January one. Earlier, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced 'Khushi' scheme under which about 17 lakh school girls from standard 6 to standard 12 could get free of cost sanitary napkins.