Only 350 out of 40,000 schools in Bihar have facility for sanitary pads: Congress

NEW DELHI: All India Mahila Congress on Wednesday claimed that out of about 40,000 schools in Bihar, only 350 have the facility to provide sanitary napkins and 80 per cent of the girls in the state are not able to get pads during menstruation. Mahila Congress chief Alka Lamba made this claim, citing a survey. There was no immediate response from the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

Lamba also said that her organization had installed sanitary vending machines in Begusarai, Vaishali (both in Bihar) and Delhi as part of the 'Priyadarshini Udaan Project'. "We have given employment to 50 women through these machines," she said at a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters here. Lamba said that on the occasion of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi's birthday on Thursday, sanitary pads will be distributed to 25,000 women in Bihar.

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"Even the National Family Health Survey is unaware of the truth in Bihar. Today there are 40 crore women in India, whose age is between 11 years and 49 years. All of them need pads during their periods. In such a situation, we need 400 crore pads every month, but 80 per cent of the girls in Bihar do not get pads," she claimed. "Sanitary machines were to be installed in every school in Bihar, but the figures show that out of 40,000 schools, sanitary pads have been provided in only 350 schools," she said.