Scheme for Persons with Benchmark Disability Requiring High Support

What is the Scheme for Persons with Benchmark Disability Requiring High Support?

Scheme for Persons with Benchmark Disability Requiring High Support is a financial assistance scheme of the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of Goa. It is aimed at a specific and small group; people whose disability is not only a benchmark disability under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, but has been certified as requiring high support.

The scheme pays a one-time grant of Rs 40,000. The stated purpose is economic self-reliance and independent living, and the money may be spent on any of three heads:

• Assistive technologies and required aids or appliances
• Personal care assistance services
• Educational or vocational training support

Because the certificate that qualifies an applicant is issued by the Medical Board notified by the State Government under Section 38 of the RPwD Act, the scheme is tied directly to the statutory disability assessment machinery rather than to a departmental assessment of its own.

Key features

• Rs 40,000 as a single, one-time payment.
• Claimable once every five years, subject to reassessment.
• Restricted to applicants from the Economically Weaker Section category.
• Proof of utilisation required within ninety days of receiving the money.
• Sanctioned by the Director of the Department, on an offline Annexure-A application.

Who is eligible for this scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a bona fide resident of the State of Goa: by birth, by marriage, or through continuous domicile of at least fifteen years.
• You are a person with a benchmark disability requiring high support.
• You hold a certificate issued by the Medical Board notified by the State Government under Section 38 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• You belong to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category as per Government of India or State Government criteria.
• You are not receiving similar financial assistance from any other government or non-government source for the same purpose, and can file a self-declaration saying so.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You have a disability certificate but no certification of high support needs from the notified Medical Board. A benchmark disability certificate alone is not enough.
• You are outside the EWS category as certified by the competent authority.
• You are already drawing similar assistance for the same purpose from another government or non-government source.
• You cannot establish bona fide residence in Goa by birth, marriage or fifteen years of continuous domicile.
• You received the assistance less than five years ago.

Relaxation: exceptions to the residence requirement may be allowed in certain special cases, such as persons who married into Goa.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Scheme for Persons with Benchmark Disability Requiring High Support

1. Take a printout of the prescribed application form in the Annexure-A format used by the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.
2. Fill in all mandatory fields, paste a passport-size photograph signed across where required, and sign the self-declaration stating that the assistance will be used only for the approved purposes and that no similar assistance is being received from any other source.
3. Attach self-attested copies of the high support disability certificate, UDID card, EWS certificate, residence certificate from the Mamlatdar, bank passbook, and the written consent to provide proof of utilisation within ninety days.
4. Submit the completed form and documents to The Director, Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Building 'B', New Market Complex, 3rd Floor, Porvorim, Goa 403 501, and keep an acknowledged copy.

How is the money released?

The grant is sanctioned by the Director of the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and released as a one-time payment into the applicant's bank account.

Disbursement is not the end of the process. The beneficiary must submit proof of utilisation, receipts or invoices, within ninety days from the date of receiving the money. Beneficiaries may also be asked to take part in periodic audits by producing the necessary documentation.

What happens if the assistance is misused?

The scheme sets out clear consequences:

• Funds are recovered if they are found to be misused or spent on purposes other than those specified in the scheme.
• In cases of misuse or non-compliance, the Department may disqualify the beneficiary from future assistance under the scheme.

Since the assistance can otherwise be claimed once every five years, a disqualification is a real cost — it is worth keeping every invoice for the assistive device, the care service or the training course purchased.

Why applications get rejected

• Disability certificate without high support certification, the single most common reason, because the two are different documents.
• No UDID card, or a UDID card in a different name spelling from the application.
• EWS certificate missing or expired, since the economic test is a hard eligibility condition.
• Residence certificate not from the Mamlatdar, or falling short of fifteen years for an applicant who is neither Goan by birth nor by marriage.
• Similar assistance already drawn for the same aid, appliance or training from another government or non-government source.
• Self-declaration or utilisation consent not signed, leaving the file incomplete.
• Reapplication within five years of an earlier sanction.

Where to get help

• Director, Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Building 'B', New Market Complex, 3rd Floor, Porvorim, Goa 403 501, for the Annexure-A form, eligibility questions and the status of a sanction.
• Medical Board notified under Section 38 of the RPwD Act, 2016, for the high support disability certificate itself, which must be obtained before applying.
• Mamlatdar of your taluka, for the residence certificate.
• Government of Goa portal, goa.gov.in, for departmental notifications and the official directory listing.

No verified dedicated helpline number is published for this scheme, so this guide does not list one. Approach the Director's office at Porvorim directly, or the state grievance portal, rather than relying on any third-party number.

A note on scope

This is a small, precisely defined Tier 3 scheme. Its published material covers the Rs 40,000 grant, the three permitted uses, the residence and EWS tests, the Section 38 certificate requirement, the Annexure-A application route and the ninety-day utilisation rule, and that is exactly what this guide sets out. Readers looking for wider disability entitlements in Goa, such as the disability pension or UDID registration itself, should approach the same Department for its separate schemes.

How to check your application status

This scheme is applied for entirely offline, through a paper Annexure-A form submitted to the Director's office at Porvorim, so there is no online portal login or SMS tracking number attached to it. Status has to be followed up in person or in writing.

1. Keep the acknowledgement. When the application is submitted at the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, ask for the file to be stamped and dated, or for a receiving number to be noted on your copy. This acknowledgement is the only reference an applicant has to quote later.

2. Call or visit the Director's office directly. Contact the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Building 'B', New Market Complex, 3rd Floor, Porvorim, Goa 403 501, and quote the date of submission and the applicant's name when asking about the file's status. Since no dedicated helpline number is published for this specific scheme, a phone enquiry should go to the Department's general office line rather than any number found on an unofficial website.

3. Ask specifically which stage the file is at. Because sanction rests with the Director, a file can be at data entry, under eligibility verification against the EWS and residence documents, awaiting the Director's sanction order, or already sanctioned and pending bank transfer. Naming these stages when you enquire gets a more useful answer than a general "has it been approved" question.

4. Watch your bank account rather than expecting a notice. As the grant is a one-time payment released directly to the applicant's bank account after sanction, the credit itself is often the first confirmation. If the acknowledged submission date is several months old and no communication or credit has followed, a written follow-up letter to the Director, referencing the acknowledgement number, is the appropriate next step.

5. Use the state grievance channel as an escalation, not a first step. If the Department's office does not respond to direct enquiries, applicants can raise the matter through the Government of Goa's general grievance redressal mechanism, citing the application date and department concerned.