The Department of Backward Classes in the district has taken a women-friendly initiative to address the issue of disposal of sanitary napkins in women’s hostels run by it.
Reckoned to be a progressive and welcome initiative in addressing the disposal issue, the existing practices were hitherto unscientific and a potential health hazard with flushing accepted as the most common mechanism adopted by the hostel members.
The department, which runs 26 women’s hostels in the district, has provided such incinerators to all of them. Installation of these incinerators has helped address the disposal issue and has turned out to be popular as it is not only hygienic but no more an embarrassment.
G.S. Somashekar, district backward classes officer, learnt of the incinerators — which could destroy the napkins in a few seconds — through his colleagues and decided to approach various institutions to contribute under the CSR initiative.
As a result, HDFC, SBM, Baccardi, Raane (Madras) besides Round table (12-Mysore) came forward to help the department in providing the incinerators to all the hostels in the district.
While the Mysuru Round Table (Ladies circle-9) has donated 12 incinerators, HDFC has pitched in three while SBM, Baccardi and Rane (Madras) have contributed two incinerators each. The department has purchased remaining five incinerators after obtaining special permission from the government.
Mr. Somashekar told The Hindu that the incinerator is engineered to reduce used napkins to sterile ash in a matter of few seconds and thousands of hostel members have benefited from it.
He claimed that perhaps Mysuru was the first district in the State to introduce such incinerators. The initiative has been appreciated by the higher authorities and would be promoted across the State to follow the same model to cover all hostels run by the department. It is likely that the funding model for procuring the incinerators will be to tap industries to contribute under CSR besides approaching philanthropists, said Mr. Somashekar.
