Shillong, Feb 22: In what can be called as a measure to empower the women, the State Government on Wednesday announced a gender budget of Rs. 5271 cr. The government is also thinking of coming up with a program to provide sanitary napkins at the cost of one rupees.

Speaking to media, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “We have come up with a policy for generic medicine, wherein say for example a medicine like paracetamol will be available at the cost of one rupees and sanitary pads will cost you Rs 1 per piece. So this is in the offing. We won’t divulge much as we are still working on it.”

He added that in extreme conditions where family are economically very poor then they can explore to provide free sanitary napkins. Sangma stated that they want to ensure that the program is in place so that when they announce the program it should be functional.

The government is looking at a technology of having biodegradable environment friendly sanitary napkins. Sangma also mentioned that they have extended support to an organisation in Nongstoiñ, West Khasi Hills District, that is manufacturing biodegradable pads.

“We have supported that organisation by giving machines and even encouraged them to expand and further expand production of biodegradable sanitary napkins we are working that front. Once he have the scale and numbers and capacity then we will go ahead with the program,” informed Sangma.

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