TimesView Most malls may already have the facility. But the change needs to be more in the mindset rather than the physical infrastructure. KOLKATA: The KMC is only the second civic body after New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to respond to a letter from the ministry of women and child development to state chief secretaries, urging governments to set up nursing rooms in public places.Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim on Wednesday initiated the process of making a mother-and-child-care room mandatory in the buildings rules for commercial buildings, particularly malls and markets. The decision will be formalised at the next House meeting, after which it will be incorporated in KMC’s buildings rules.“That is splendid,” said Neha Rastogi, mother of ninemonth old Avyan, in whose name she and her husband Animesh had filed a petition in the Delhi high court in July 2018, seeking feeding rooms in public places where mothers can nurse their infants. “NDMC did say they have done something at Lajpat Nagar , Connaught Place and Parliament Street. But with KMC incorporating it in its buildings rules, it will ensure more such facilities in Kolkata,” she said.Neha was travelling from Delhi to Bengaluru with Avyan, then three months old, when it struck her that there was no place to nurse a child. Considering that one has to reach the airport an hour before the flight and it takes almost 45 minutes to leave an airport on arrival, airports and flights offer a whole range for food for adults but there was no arrangement to breastfeed infants. “There is no substitute to a mother’s milk. We see and hear about it in advertisements. But there is so little done to ensure the privacy that a mother requires to feed,” said Rastogi.Following the petition, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had made the Centre, all states and civic bodies parties to the case and asked them to act upon the issue. The letter from the ministry to state chief secretaries on the need to set up basic feeding rooms followed.Following Avyan’s petition, nursing rooms came up at airports and stations. A provision has also been made on the Bullet train, proposed between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. “Voluntary action is fine but we want the government to formulate a policy on the issue. The KMC decision to make it a law does just that,” said Animesh.In Kolkata, Abhilasha (Paul) Das Adhikari, who had faced insult while needing to nurse her seven-month-old daughter Anusha at a city mall last November, gave a thumbs up to the KMC move. “This is great news for all mothers. The initiative should go beyond malls and cover government offices, fair grounds and other places, where mothers go. All that is required by way of infrastructure is a small room, a comfortable chair, a diaper-changing station and wash basin with flowing water,” she said.

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