Bengaluru: A man was travelling with a friend in a Bengaluru-Bellary train, when his friend realised that she needed sanitary pads urgently. The man immediately tweeted her requirement and tagged railway minister Piyush Goyal in his tweet seeking the railway department’s help to obtain sanitary pads. The response was surprisingly quick, and the department sprang into action and delivered the sanitary pads to his friend.

Vishal Khanapure of Kalaburagi and his friend were on a train that departed from Bengaluru at 10:15pm. The girl spoke to him about the immediate need for a sanitary napkin. As the train had moved a certain distance from the station and the next station was far off, Vishal took to Twitter and explained the problem and requested that one of his friends was in need of sanitary pads and painkillers and tagged the railway minister and department requesting for help.

The officers reacted to the tweet and enquired the details of the materials the girl needed at around 11:06pm. By the time train reached Arasikere station, officers had arranged for whatever the girl needed and handed it over to her. The Mysuru Division officers also advised them to call 138 in such emergency cases.

They also informed them that a Kolkata-based company has developed an App that shows the destination of vending machines of sanitary pads at the nearby spot.

Vishal thanked the railway department. He also thanked Akshay Kumar and the movie Padman for sensitizing men on these issues and helping them understand that menstruation and sanitary pads are part of women's lives.