For Akshay Kumar, PadMan has stopped being a movie. It has now become a movement. Long after his movie on the Sanitary Man adapted from wife Twinkle Khanna’s bestseller The Legend of Laxmi Prasad by R. Balki is released, Akshay will continue to promote the need for low-cost sanitary pads for rural women and strive for menstrual hygiene in the districts.

In a heartwarming gesture to coincide with PadMan releasing on February 9, the actor is launching a Pad Bank for Daughters of Maharashtra along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The idea is to make Maharashtra the first state where every woman in the rural areas and slums has access to sanitary pads when they are menstruating, PeepingMoon.com sources have revealed.

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The initiative is called ‘Pad Bank for Daughters of Maharashtra’ and the state government will announce the effort in the coming week. Anybody and everybody can contribute to the cause by donating sanitary pads that will be distributed in the rural and slum areas. You could give as little as one packet too. Or you could donate money that will be used to buy pads for the women of these areas.

Akshay, who through PadMan has made it his mission to address the issue of menstrual hygiene in the country, is believed to be of the opinion that women in the rural areas should get sanitary pads free as it is a basic necessity for them. When asked earlier by the media if he planned to appeal to the central government to cut down the GST rate on sanitary napkins, Akshay had said, “I think women should have free access to them. It’s about menstrual hygiene and not luxury.”

Here’s hoping the ‘Pad Bank for Daughters of Maharashtra’ initiative is adopted by the governments of other states as well because 82 per cent women in India have no access to sanitary pads and are mistreated during the days of their menstruation. Akshay Kumar can be counted on to carry this movement forward whenever and wherever required.