The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) has plans to install breastfeeding cabins in the first and upper class waiting rooms of Guwahati railway station at Paltan Bazaar.
“We have a plan to install breastfeeding cabins each in first class and upper class waiting room barring the ladies’ waiting room. We already have two baby-feeding corners, each in general and in the air-conditioned waiting hall at the platform so far. This was successful and so a detailed plan for installation of more such cabins has been projected. Very few passengers know about these cabins. We haven’t deployed any female personnel separately in waiting rooms for the supervision of these cabins yet. Till then, we have outsourcing female caretakers in these waiting halls who inform the women on the platform about the cabins,” said Paresh Kalita, the senior station manager of Guwahati railway station.
The Assam government, along with the Union ministry of health and family welfare, is observing World Breastfeeding Week from August 1-7 in support of mothers to breastfeed anytime and anywhere.
Kalita added, “Earlier, we had a wooden breastfeeding cabin in the platform that has been now shifted with innovation in waiting hall. It has been nearly two years that the existing cabins got a new shape. These cabins were installed with an objective to make the mothers among the daily passengers feel secure while feeding their babies.”
However, the Kamrup (metro) administration is still to focus on providing such cabins in public places. The state social welfare department and the health and family welfare department under the National Health Mission, Assam, are still working on awareness level of importance of breastfeeding among the mothers, reports The Telegraph.
“Breastfeeding corners and adequate privacy to mothers are the aspects that we also emphasised through MAA, but it is more of a cultural aspect that needs to be imbibed or engrained. This initiative definitely requires a big amount of push,” he added.