14-hour-long train journey using paper tower because of unavailability of sanitary napkins has spurred a petition urging the railway ministry to install sanitary pad vending machines on board trains.
A 27-year-old girl Tanvi Mishra on board the Gorakhpur-bound Humsafar Express from New Delhi was forced to use paper towel on her long journey as she did not have sanitary napkins. Her harrowing experience has shaped a petition on Change.Org, which has garnered almost 8,000 signatures since it was started three weeks back.
Recalling her ordeal, Tanvi wrote,
“Didi aapke paas pad hoga kya?? (Sister, do you have a pad?)
Mere paas to nahin hai, tumhen lekar chalna chahiye na!? (I don’t have it, you should carry it yourself!)
“Lekar chalti hun par (I carry it but)…”
Train me pad kahan milega tumhen! Ye tissue paper le lo.? (You won’t get pads on a train. Take these tissue papers.”
In her petition to the railway minister, she has asked for vending machines as well separate toilets for women.
Responding to a query on the issue, Railways said it has already started installing sanitary pad vending machines at railway stations.
“The East Coast Railways has in fact installed 91 such machines in 36 trains already,” an official said.
Calling it out to the parties aiming for victory in General Elections 2019, Mishra while detailing her experience, has urged the authorities as well as contesting leaders to incorporate these issues in their election manifesto. “The 2019 elections are here, almost all political parties will talk about women empowerment and the rights of women…. Let’s join hands together so that women’s issues are given priority in the next election. It becomes a priority for the next government.
She wants these issues to be part of the discourse around women’s empowerment during the 2019 general elections.
