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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started accepting applications for the Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Divyang Financial Assistance scheme, which seeks to provide half-yearly financial assistance ranging from Rs 6,000 to Rs 18,000 to nearly 60,000 persons with disabilities over the course of next five years.
The move months ahead of Assembly elections in the state, slated for October.
Named after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s mentor Anand Dighe, the scheme had been announced by the civic body in its fiscal budget 2024 – 2025, under which an allocation of Rs 111.83 crore for persons with physical disabilities had been made.
As a part of the scheme, the BMC is slated to provide financial assistance to nearly 60,000 disabled persons (UDID card holders), who are above the age of 18 years and permanent residents of Mumbai.
According to the scheme, a half yearly assistance of Rs 6,000 will be allocated to yellow card holders (40 – 50 per cent disabled), accounting for Rs 1,000 monthly and Rs 12,000 annually.
Meanwhile, persons with over 80 per cent disability (blue UDID card holders) will receive nearly Rs 36,000 annually, of which Rs. 18,000 (Rs 3,000 per month) will be allocated after every six months.
Civic officials said that the applications will have to be submitted at civic ward offices for now. “While we are working on an online portal and are aiming to open it over the next few days, currently, the applications can be submitted offline in the ward offices. The beneficiaries can collect the forms from the ward office or take a print out from our website,” a senior official from the planning department, who is implementing the scheme, said.
“Once the ward offices receive the applications, it will be transferred to our department for review. We will be reviewing the applications and observing the response over the first month to see how many applications are received. Following this, we will take further call,” the official added.
Unlike other schemes such as the Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme for which the government has set a deadline of August 31, the civic body has set no deadline for the application of its ‘Divyang Financial Assistance scheme’.
The disabled persons seeking to avail the scheme should have a blue or a yellow UDID card, which is mandatory for the application process. “Since this is a direct transfer scheme, we have also asked for documents like photo copies of the passbook front page, cancelled check among other documents,” said an official.
Applicants can submit the documents at their concerned ward offices between 10 am and 4 pm.
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