Jaipur, June 15 -- The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Rajasthan government in four weeks over the alleged irregularities in connection with the Udaan scheme, through which the women and child development (WCD) department provides free sanitary napkins to girls and women, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday. In a letter to the WCD secretary, the NHRC said: "According to the complaint received by the Commission, the complaint has alleged that the Rajasthan government's Udaan Scheme, implemented by the department of women and child development to provide free sanitary napkins to women and adolescent girls, has been non-functional since September 2024 due to administrative delays . As a result, over 1.23 crore beneficiaries have been denied access to the essential service, compelling many to resort to unhygienic alternatives." "This interruption poses a serious violation of women's fundamental rights to health, hygiene, and dignity. The allegation made in the complaint prima facie seems to be serious violations of the human rights of the victims," the letter read. Following the development, a bench of the NHRC presided over by justice Priyank Kanoongo directed the Rajasthan WCD department to "get the allegations made in the complaint inquired into and submit a report within four weeks of perusal of the Commission." According to the officials, the scheme, which gets about Rs.290 crore budget annually, was completely halted since September 2024 due to a delay in the tender process between the Rajasthan Medical Corporation Limited (RMCL) and WCD. Under the scheme launched in 2021, the Rajasthan government distributes sanitary napkins to over 12.3 million girls and women every month through 99,776 centres across the state. According to department officials, each beneficiary receives 12 napkins per month. The highest distribution is recorded at Anganwadi centres, which cater to 955,800 women, followed by upper primary, secondary, and senior secondary schools with 230,500 beneficiaries. Additionally, 238,000 college students under the Commissionerate of College Education and 23,961 women under the department of social justice and empowerment are also receiving the benefit, officials said. HT reported in April that WCD also wrote a letter to RMSCL. "The last purchase order under the Udaan Scheme was issued by RMSCL in July 2024. Since then, no new supply orders have been issued by RMSCL to the respective beneficiaries. As a result, based on the estimated demand from July 2024 to March 2025, there has been no supply of sanitary napkins, leading to a nine-month supply gap." The letter added, "Due to lack of sufficient storage space at distribution centres and the risk of stock deterioration from oversupply beyond the beneficiaries' monthly needs, it has been decided to consider the possible supply gap from July 2024 to March 2025 as a reference point. Accordingly, keeping in view the earlier demand submitted by the department, it has been decided at the appropriate level to obtain the supply of sanitary napkins from RMSCL for the first schedule of the new financial year 2025-26, as per the departmental plan and district-level requirements." It said that the department has initiated the process of collecting demand for the first schedule of the financial year 2025-26. The compiled demand will soon be provided to RMSCL, so that purchase orders for FY 2025-26 can be issued based on the new demand under the departmental scheme, it added....