LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme

What is the LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme?

LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme is a Maharashtra welfare scheme that erects a small tin stall for roadside cobblers of the Scheduled Caste Charmakar community. It is run by LIDCOM, the Leather Industries Development Corporation of Maharashtra, formally Sant Rohidas Charmodyog & Charmakar Vikas Mahamandal, established on 1 May 1974 to under the state's Social Justice and Special Assistance Department. Marathi-language notices call it Gatai Stall Yojana (गटई स्टॉल योजना), which is the phrase most beneficiaries search for.

The problem the scheme addresses is narrow and concrete. Roadside cobblers work on pavements and road corners with no permanent shelter, sitting through sun, heat and monsoon rain with their tools and leather stock exposed. According to LIDCOM's scheme page, the Gattai Stall Scheme supplies an iron/tin stall of size 4' x 5' x 6.5', costing Rs 16,367 per stall, along with Rs 500 of incidental charges, and the entire amount is borne as a 100% subsidy.

What makes this scheme different from LIDCOM's other programmes

• There is no loan and no repayment. Unlike LIDCOM's Margin Money scheme (projects of Rs 50,001 to Rs 5,00,000), the 50% Subsidy Scheme (maximum Rs 50,000) or Mahila Kisan Yojana (Rs 50,000 with a Rs 40,000 loan at 5%), the Gattai stall carries no debt.
• The benefit is delivered as a physical asset, not cash. LIDCOM arranges fabrication and erection of the stall.
• The target group is one occupation, the street cobbler; rather than self-employment generally.

Who is eligible for the LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You work as a roadside cobbler, or are prepared to work as one, and can be identified as such. The myScheme listing states that the applicant should be a roadside cobbler identified by the Gram Panchayat.
• You belong to the Scheduled Caste Charmakar community — Dhor, Chambhar, Holar, Mochi and allied castes, with a caste certificate from a competent authority.
• You are between 18 and 50 years of age.
• You are a permanent resident of Maharashtra.
• Your annual family income is Rs 1,00,000 or less, the ceiling recorded on the national myScheme listing for this scheme.
• You have knowledge of the cobbler / leather trade, which LIDCOM's own page lists as a condition.
• You have a workable roadside pitch where the stall can stand.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not from the Charmakar community. Other Scheduled Caste and backward-class groups in Maharashtra are served by separate state corporations, not by LIDCOM.
• You are under 18 or over 50 years old at the time of application.
• You are not a permanent resident of Maharashtra.
• Your family income exceeds the Rs 1,00,000 ceiling.
• You are not a cobbler. The scheme is occupation-specific, a general self-employment applicant of the same community should look at LIDCOM's subsidy or margin-money schemes instead.
• You have already received a Gattai stall. The benefit is a one-time asset.

What documents are required for the Gattai Stall Scheme?

Bring originals along with photocopies. The caste certificate and the cobbler identification are the two documents district staff scrutinise most closely.

How to apply for the LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme

LIDCOM Gattai Stall Scheme is an offline scheme. There is no online form and no MahaDBT listing; the whole process runs through LIDCOM's district office.

1. Find your district LIDCOM office. Every district in Maharashtra has one. The head office is at Bombay Life Building, 5th Floor, 45 Veer Nariman Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001, on (022) 22044186 and (022) 22047157, and will direct you to the district office covering your taluka.
2. Get identified as a roadside cobbler. In rural areas approach the Gram Panchayat for the identification myScheme records as a condition; in a city, the municipal ward office or the LIDCOM district office does it.
3. Collect the prescribed application form from the district LIDCOM office. The form is issued free of cost.
4. Attach the documents; caste certificate, income certificate, age proof, residence proof, Gram Panchayat identification and the details of the pitch where you propose to place the stall.
5. Submit the completed form at the district LIDCOM office and take a dated acknowledgement carrying an inward number.
6. Wait for district-level selection. Stalls are erected against a sanctioned district-wise target for the year, so selection depends on how many stalls are allotted to your district in that financial year.
7. Confirm the site when LIDCOM contacts you. Once selected, LIDCOM arranges fabrication and erection of the 4' x 5' x 6.5' tin stall at the approved location. Nothing is payable at this stage.

How to check the status of a Gattai Stall application

The scheme is entirely offline, so status is checked in person:

1. Take the dated acknowledgement to the district LIDCOM office and ask for the position of your file against its inward number.
2. If the district office cannot help, call the LIDCOM head office on (022) 45240417, (022) 22044186 or (022) 22047157 and quote the inward number and your district.
3. Ask specifically whether your district's stall target for the current financial year has been exhausted. A pending file often simply means the year's allotment is full and the case rolls into the next year's list.

Why Gattai Stall applications get rejected

• Caste certificate outside the Charmakar group. This is the most common ground for rejection, and it cannot be cured by a self-declaration.
• No identification as a roadside cobbler from the Gram Panchayat or ward office.
• Income certificate above the Rs 1,00,000 ceiling, or an expired certificate.
• Age outside the 18–50 band.
• No workable site, LIDCOM must be able to erect a fixed stall somewhere, and a pitch the local authority will not permit stops the case.
• District target exhausted. This is a deferral rather than a true rejection; ask for the file to be carried to the next year's list.

Where to raise a grievance

• LIDCOM head office: Bombay Life Building, 5th Floor, 45 Veer Nariman Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001.
• Phone: (022) 45240417, (022) 22044186, (022) 22047157.
• Parent department: Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, at sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in.

The Gattai stall is a full subsidy. No LIDCOM officer, contractor or agent is authorised to collect money from a beneficiary for the stall or for processing the application.