Grant in Aid to Old Age Homes (Maharashtra)

What is the Grant in Aid to Old Age Homes scheme?

Grant in Aid to Old Age Homes is a welfare scheme of the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, administered through the Commissionerate of Social Welfare at Pune. Grant in Aid to Old Age Homes does not pay money to an elderly person. Instead, the state funds registered voluntary organisations that run old age homes, and the destitute senior citizen receives the actual benefit in kind. A bed, meals, first aid and a safe place to live.

The scheme runs in two streams that readers often confuse:

• NGO-run grant-aided old age homes. This is the older stream, traced to a Government Resolution of 1963. Registered voluntary organisations that provide food, shelter and other facilities to destitute elderly women, men and disabled persons are sanctioned a per-resident grant.
• Matoshree Old Age Homes. This stream was started through voluntary organisations by a Government Resolution dated 17 November 1995. Each Matoshree home has an approved capacity of 100 residents, split 50 seats for fee-paying residents and 50 for non-fee-paying residents.

According to the Commissionerate of Social Welfare, the state currently sanctions 29 general grant-aided old age homes and 23 Matoshree homes; the Social Justice Department's own scheme page lists 24 Matoshree homes and 33 NGO-run homes on grant basis. The two counts differ because sanctions are added and withdrawn over time, so confirm the position for your district with the district office rather than relying on a published total.

How much grant is paid?

According to the Commissionerate of Social Welfare, a grant-aided old age home receives a monthly nutrition grant of Rs 1,500 per elderly resident, revised with effect from February 2019, meant to cover food, shelter and medical treatment. The Social Justice Department's scheme page still carries the earlier figure of Rs 900 per person per month for 12 months as nourishment grant. Where two official pages differ, treat the Commissionerate figure as the later revision and confirm the amount currently sanctioned with the district office.

For the Matoshree stream, the department has approved 322 honorarium posts, 14 per home, subject to high-level committee approval, which is how staff at the homes are paid.

Residents themselves are charged on an income slab. A senior citizen whose annual income exceeds Rs 12,000 pays Rs 500 a month for admission to a Matoshree home. A senior citizen whose annual income is below that amount pays nothing at all.

Who is eligible for admission to a grant-aided old age home?

A senior citizen can be admitted if:

• They are a resident of Maharashtra.
• They are a destitute man aged 60 years or above, or a woman aged 55 years or above.
• They are homeless, destitute or disabled with no adequate family support.
• A seat is vacant in the home, within its sanctioned capacity.

A senior citizen cannot apply or is not eligible if:

• They are below the age threshold to 60 for men, 55 for women.
• They are not a Maharashtra resident.
• They require continuous hospital-level nursing or psychiatric care that an old age home is not equipped or sanctioned to provide. Homes routinely ask for a medical note on this point.
• They are seeking a cash grant rather than residential care. No money is paid to individuals under this scheme; a senior looking for a monthly pension should instead look at the state and central old-age pension schemes such as Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana, Shravanbal Seva Rajya Nivrutti Vetan Yojana and the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme.

An organisation cannot apply for grant in aid if:

• It is not registered under the Societies Registration Act and the Bombay Public Trusts Act.
• It runs the home on a commercial basis, charging market fees.
• It cannot produce audited accounts and utilisation records for earlier grants.
• It has no sanction from the department for the home in question. A grant follows a sanctioned home; opening a home does not by itself create an entitlement.

What documents are required?

How to apply for admission to an old age home

A senior citizen seeking a place applies offline. There is no online admission portal for this scheme.

1. Identify the grant-aided old age home nearest to you. The district social welfare office keeps the list of sanctioned Matoshree and NGO-run homes in your district.
2. Contact the right officer — the District Social Welfare Officer at the Zilla Parishad if you live in a rural area, or the Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare if you live in an urban area.
3. Collect and fill the admission application, giving your age, address, income and family situation.
4. Attach the documents; age proof, Aadhaar, Maharashtra domicile proof and an income certificate. The income certificate is what decides whether you pay the Rs 500 monthly charge or nothing.
5. Submit the application to the officer and take a dated acknowledgement.
6. Attend the assessment, which checks destitution, age and health, and whether a seat is free within the home's sanctioned capacity.
7. Take admission once the home is allotted. Free food, first aid and accommodation begin from the day of admission.

How does an organisation apply for the grant?

1. Register the organisation under the Societies Registration Act and the Bombay Public Trusts Act, if not already registered.
2. Apply to the Commissionerate of Social Welfare, Pune, through the District Social Welfare Officer, for sanction of an old age home under the scheme, giving the proposed location, capacity, building details and staffing plan.
3. Submit the required annexures, registration certificate, audited accounts, building particulars, staff list and the proposed resident intake.
4. Undergo departmental inspection of the premises, kitchen, sanitation and records.
5. Receive sanction and grant release, calculated on the number of admitted eligible residents at the notified per-resident monthly rate.
6. File utilisation certificates and audited accounts each year. Continued grant release depends on them.

How to check the status of an application

Status is tracked offline, by quoting the inward number on your acknowledgement at the office where you filed. For a senior citizen's admission, follow up with the District Social Welfare Officer or Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare. For an organisation's grant file, follow up first with the district office and then with the Commissionerate of Social Welfare at Pune.

Common reasons admissions and grants are refused

• No vacancy. Each Matoshree home is sanctioned for 100 residents and cannot admit beyond it, so waiting lists are normal.
• Age not met, the 60 and 55 thresholds are applied strictly.
• Family support available. The scheme targets destitute seniors; where children able to maintain a parent are traced, the case may be referred under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act instead.
• Income certificate missing, so the fee slab cannot be fixed.
• Health needs beyond the home's capacity, requiring hospital or specialised care.
• For organisations, incomplete audited accounts, adverse inspection findings or an expired registration.

Where to complain or get help

• Elderline, the national helpline for senior citizens: 14567, a toll-free number for elder abuse, neglect and assistance queries.
• District Social Welfare Officer, Zilla Parishad, for rural applications and complaints about a home.
• Assistant Commissioner of Social Welfare, for urban districts.
• Commissionerate of Social Welfare, Pune, for grant sanction, release and organisation-level grievances.
• Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, at sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in, for policy-level escalation.

Admission to a grant-aided old age home is free of any charge other than the notified Rs 500 monthly contribution for residents above the income slab. No agent or intermediary can charge a fee for arranging a seat.