The Maharashtra government will roll out a scheme within a month to provide sanitary napkins at a subsidised rate to school girls and women from self-help groups (SHGs), Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan told the assembly on Friday.

Responding to Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Namita Mundada during the question hour, Mahajan said the government is considering fixing the price of a packet of sanitary napkins at Re 1 for girl students.

Mundada said a programme – Asmita scheme – to provide a packet of 8 menstrual pads at Rs 5 to rural female students was discontinued in 2022 and urged the government to restart it.

“We have now made a provision of Rs 100 crore in the state budget and are considering reducing the price from Rs 5 to Re 1. We are also working on how to expand the scope of the scheme to urban areas and how sanitary napkins can be made easily accessible,” Mahajan said.

The minister said a final decision in this matter will be taken in a month’s time.

BJP’s Bharati Lavekar demanded that sanitary napkins be provided free of cost and made available at ration shops.

Congress MLA and former school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said the Asmita scheme was formulated when Pankaja Munde was the rural development minister from 2014 to 2019. She said all women legislators had given their feedback to safeguard the menstrual hygiene of young women.

Gaikwad demanded to know why the scheme was discontinued and what steps the government is taking to make it better.

Mahajan said the government is positive about improving the Asmita scheme.

From 2018 till 2022, he said, 19 lakh school girls and 29 lakh women from SHGs benefited from the scheme.

“The tenure of the scheme ended in 2022. We are exploring the possibility of providing a pack of sanitary napkins for Re 1 per to girl students and at a minimum rate to women from SHGs,” he said.

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