Mumbai: Maharashtra’s Eknath Shinde government has proposed to make it mandatory for all workplaces and educational institutions to have a separate ‘ladies room’ for pregnant and lactating women.
Last week, the state’s urban development department issued a draft notification and invited suggestions and objections from stakeholders about setting up such ‘ladies rooms’. The government has decided to call these ‘Hirkani’ rooms — after a milkmaid who lived near the Raigad fort during the reign of 17th century Maratha warrior king Shivaji.
“Many such workplaces have a large number of working mothers with newborns or really young children, but have no dedicated space to rest, breastfeed or express breast milk. The state government thought it was important to change regulation and make it mandatory for all such establishments to have a special room for such women,” an official from the state urban development department said.
According to the draft notification, it will be mandatory to provide the service of a ‘ladies room’ in all buildings used for industrial, public, semi-public, institutional, educational and any other similar purpose. All pregnant and lactating women as well as mothers with children under the age of six will be allowed to use this space.
As the legend of Hirkani goes, the gates of Raigad fort had been locked for the day, and the milkmaid had to reach her baby. So she scaled the steep walls of the fort in the dark.
ThePrint reached Aseem Gupta, principal secretary of the state urban development department, for comment via calls and text messages. This report will be updated when he responds.
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Issue in focus due to MLA mother
The issue of the lack of nursing rooms or baby care rooms in many workplaces became a point of discussion for the government because of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Saroj Ahire, the official quoted earlier told ThePrint.
Deolali MLA Ahire had turned up at the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur in December and then at the budget session in Mumbai in March with her infant son, who she had to breastfeed at regular intervals.
Shinde had met and praised Ahire last December for balancing her duty as a mother and as a legislator.
It was only after Ahire landed with the baby at Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur that the state government set aside a space for a ‘Hirkani kaksha’ in the legislature building. While the Mumbai Vidhan Bhavan did have a Hirkani room, it was dusty and untidy. After Ahire spoke up, the state government spruced up the room.
“I took my motherhood and went into the temple of democracy,” Ahire, who has pledged her support to the Ajit Pawar camp of the NCP that formally joined the Shinde-led government in July, told ThePrint. “And with that, I was able to help and serve other fellow mothers in the state. For that, I feel very grateful.”
According to the state government’s draft notification, buildings being used for industrial, public, semi public, educational, institutional or other workplaces will need to demarcate an area of up to 25 sq mts for a Hirkani room. The room should be accessible by staircase or an elevator, preferably be on the ground or the first floor and also have a toilet with good lighting, ventilation and drainage facilities, the notification says, adding that the area will not be counted as part of the Floor Space Index (FSI) of the building.
FSI in urban planning is the maximum permitted area on a piece of land for construction. It’s the ratio of the plot area to the built up area.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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