Less than three weeks since an ambitious sanitary napkin vending machine, the first of its kind, was installed at a co-educational college in the city, the machine finds limited takers and has already started malfunctioning.

Installed at the city’s Bhawanipur Education Society College by Kolkata-based start-up venture Robust Solution on May 28 to commemorate World Menstruation Day, the machine was found malfunctioning when The Hindu tried to access it on Monday. The machine kept rejecting coins worth Rs. 10 and after several attempts dispensed a packet of napkin after two Rs. 5 coins and one Re. 1 coin were inserted into it.

The machine is the first to be installed in the city and many more are in the pipeline, said Robust Solution founder Raunak Sarawagi.

Aimed at advocating hygienic, accessible and affordable sanitary napkins, the vending machine dispenses a pack of three napkins for Rs. 10, fairly cheap compared to other napkins available in the market. The machine has a maximum capacity of 26 packets.

Located inside the washroom meant for disabled girls on the ground floor of the college, the success of the machine and the napkins is yet to be tested as examinations are under way. However, within the first few weeks of its installation, only six users seemed to have used the machine.

Asked if the college authorities were trained to address any malfunctioning of the machine, the authorities replied in the negative. The quality of the napkins, which are manufactured by HLL Lifecare Limited (a Government of India enterprise), also appeared to be inferior.

No publicity

Although the introduction of such a machine proves to be of great help to girl students, the college is yet to publicise it on the campus.

“We have not yet put up posters or notices in the college yet. An online portal wrote about this initiative which I shared on a social networking site. That is being shared by the students. If this machine is successful, we will put up more machines in all 16 toilets in the college,” said vice chairperson of the College’s governing body Miraj Shah.

Talking about the problems he faced when approaching authorities about the installation of these machines, Mr. Sarawagi told The Hindu that people are still uncomfortable to talk about menstruation.