BAJURA, JUNE 28
Many girls in Budhiganga Municipality have been deprived of subsidised sanitary pads given by the government due to sheer negligence on the part of the local level in Bajura.
The government subsidised pads were not distributed in schools of Budiganga Municipality for the fiscal 2021-22. A total of Rs 2,650,000 was released for the same. The amount might have been returned since it was not used. The girl students are deprived of using the pads as the municipality did not forward the process for buying the sanitary pads. There are 30 community schools in the municipality, including eight secondary and 22 basic schools. According to the municipality, 40,000 pads are required in the schools.
An eleventh grader Bhawana Thapa said the girl students at her school could not get the government subsidised pads throughout the year. She said that she could not attend classes during menstruation. According to the schools, the girl students could not get sanitary pads due to negligence on the part of the municipality administration.
School Inspector Jaya Raj Neupane said that they could not buy the sanitary pads as staffers, finance officer, and the store keeper remained absent quite often.
A teacher in the municipality said that it was due to Neupane the staffers could not take the process to purchase the pads. Municipality Chief Administrative Officer Rabendra Ukhade said the municipality could not buy the pads as they were unable to forward the process even towards the end of the fiscal.
The government had announced it would provide sanitary pads to girl students from community schools in the fiscal 2019- 20. The Cabinet meeting on 15 September 2019 had announced to provide the pads to girl students.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
