Girl students get solar-powered napkin vending machine, thanks to Mimi

Kolkata: In a unique initiative, Trinamool Congress MP from Jadavpur Mimi Chakraborty has helped set up a solar-powered sani-

tary napkin vending machine in a school at Akhra in Santoshpur, in a bid to benefit girl students.

The machine has been set up at Balarampur Manmathanath High School, from the MPLAD fund of Chakraborty. The machine will immensely help girl school-goers and will also create awareness among people in the area about the need of the same.

It is also a part of the project to keep the area clean and green, as firstly it is run using solar power and secondly used napkins no longer need to be thrown in open places, causing environment hazards.

There is another machine which has been set up close to the vending machine, where the used napkins can be dumped.

One just needs to drop a coin of Rs 10 in the vending machine to get 3 sanitary napkins. The project has been implemented by Chakraborty's organisation Sukanya.

The cost of napkins has been kept such, so that students from all strata of the society can easily afford the same. Chakraborty was present at the inaugural ceremony at Balarampur Manmathanath High School on Sunday.

Girl students of the school have expressed their happiness with the initiative taken by the MP. It has been learnt that similar machines will be installed in 30 more schools under the jurisdiction of Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency.

This comes at a time when the school dropout rate has gone down multiple times, with several initiatives taken by the Mamta Banerjee government in both primary and secondary level.

Besides creating necessary infrastructure, the present government has supported students by providing them with uniforms, shoes and books.