THANE: Inspired by Akshay Kumar's film "Padman" which raised awareness about menstrual hygiene, a 13-year-old Dubai-based girl has adopted 250 girls from rural Maharashtra and donated sanitary napkins to them.
Riva Tulpule, whose family hails from Maharashtra, managed to collect funds for the cause in Dubai in the last couple of months.
She flew down to India last week and distributed about one-year stock of sanitary pads to girls from schools in Sahapur taluka on Saturday.
"I saw 'Padman' some months back and came to know about problems faced by girls during the days of their periods. I immediately decided to do something for girls living in villages in India, specially Maharashtra," she said.
The Class 8 student said she also discussed her idea with Konkan Graduate's constituency MLC Niranjan Davkhare during his visit to Dubai, and he encouraged her to take it forward.
Around Diwali time, Riva appealed to people in Dubai to donate money for the cause and within a short span, she managed enough sum to buy sanitary pads for 250 girls, she said.
The napkins were distributed by the teenager at a function organised by Davkhare's NGO 'Samanvay Pratishthan', which works for social causes.
Davkhare appreciated the girl's efforts to raise awareness about menstrual hygiene.
"Riva Tulpule a 8th Standard student from Dubai, this Diwali decided to do something special & took up an initiative to adopt 250 girls from rural Maharashtra and support them with full year of Sanitary Pads," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator said in a tweet.