After unveiling full body protectors for the women troopers in the CRPF, the paramilitary has now decided to install over 500 sanitary pad dispensers and incinerators across the formations across the country to help them in ensuring personal hygiene with ease.
The Union Home Ministry has sanctioned funds to the CRPF to procure and install the equipment for the combatised women in the Force.
As many as 288 sanitary pad vending machines and as many incinerators to scientifically dispose off used sanitary napkins will be installed in the CRPF campuses.
The Ministry has also authorized the CRPF to acquire 783 steel frame stands for drying clothes for all its six ‘mahila’ battalions, 15 special anti-riot units of the Rapid Action Force and training institutions.
With an outlay of Rs 2,10,69,000 these equipment will be installed as one sanitary pad vending machine costs Rs 25,000, a burning machine about Rs 40,000 and a cloth drying stand Rs 3,000, officials said.
The acquisition of the these equipment will help the force in ensuring better living and operating conditions for the over 8,000 women personnel in its ranks. The budgeting for gender-sensitive facilities is expected to be extended to other paramilitary forces as well as the Union Home Ministry has been pitching in for the inclusion of women in all the paramilitary forces.
The idea for gender sensitive budgeting and creation of an enabling environment for women in uniformed ranks was first mooted during the ‘National Conference for women in Police’ in 2016. The conference was organised by the Union Home Ministry in the national capital.
IPS officer Renuka Mishra, currently an Additional Director General (ADG) in Uttar Pradesh police, had conducted a study a few years back flagging the issues of health, privacy and challenges being faced by women personnel in police forces.
Mishra was an Inspector general with the border guarding Force Sashastra Seema Bal at its headquarters during her study on the issues being faced by the women in the uniformed ranks including in the police and paramilitary forces.
The CRPF had on Friday unveiled the country’s first prototype of a full body protector for women personnel which it has jointly developed with the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS, an entity of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).