Jamshedpur: College students staying in rural areas often bunk classes when they are on their period while some even use old cloth or newspapers as they cannot afford sanitary napkins.

Addressing the inconvenience, Karim City College in Sakchi is all set to install a sanitary napkin vending machine on its campus. A joint initiative of Inner Wheel Club of Jamshedpur and the women's cell of Karim City College, the machine will be installed in a washroom on the ground floor by December.

"This year Kerala made it mandatory to install sanitary napkin vending machines at all government schools. We have often come across girls in rural areas who miss classes when they are menstruating. As a social outfit we plan to install vending machines in all many educational institutions as possible," said Alokananda Bakshi, president Inner Wheel Club of Jamshedpur.

The Inner Wheel Club of Jamshedpur is in talks with companies to procure the vending machine, which is priced over Rs 10,000. Students need to shell out something between Rs 7 and Rs 10 for a napkin.

The social outfit also plans to install an incinerator on the college campus, which will however depend on the amount of sanitary napkins used from the vending machine and response of students and faculty members.

"Installing a vending machine is the need of the hour. There are girls, who stay in far-flung areas and avoid coming to college when they are on their period. Moreover, menstruation is often treated as a taboo. We are also trying to organise gender sensitisation and menstrual hygiene sessions with the college girls," said Kauser Tasneem, women's cell in-charge of Karim City College.

Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) has also decided to install sanitary napkin vending machines in schools and colleges across the steel city to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene.

"We have a very positive approach on the project. We will soon float a tender for the same. But before that we need to identify institutions where the machines need to be installed and also hold sessions to generate awareness on menstrual hygiene," said Sanjay Pandey, JNAC special officer.