Scheme to Provide Electric Scooter to Disabled Person (Gujarat)

What is the Scheme to Provide Electric Scooter to Disabled Person?

The Scheme to Provide Electric Scooter to Disabled Person is a Gujarat state welfare scheme run by the Directorate of Social Defence under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department. The Directorate lists the scheme in Gujarati as the two-wheeler purchase assistance scheme for orthopaedic divyangjan (asthivishayak divyango mate two-wheeler kharidva mateni sahay yojana), and the vehicle supplied under it today is an electric scooter fitted with a disability conversion kit.

According to the Directorate of Social Defence scheme page, the assistance covers the basic price of the electric scooter plus 50 percent of the cost of the disability kit, capped at Rs 25,000. The purpose is straightforward: a person with an orthopaedic disability who cannot walk long distances or use public transport comfortably gets independent mobility for work, college and daily errands without an ongoing fuel cost.

Key objectives

• Give working-age persons with locomotor disability their own means of travel.
• Reduce the daily transport cost for low-income divyang households.
• Encourage battery-operated vehicles, which need no licence-linked fuel spend and have very low running cost.

Main features

• One-time capital assistance, not a monthly allowance.
• The scooter is supplied through an authorised dealer at a rate fixed by a state-level agency, so the beneficiary does not negotiate the price.
• Payment goes from the Directorate's office to the dealer, not to the beneficiary's bank account.
• Selection is by computerised draw because demand exceeds the number of scooters sanctioned each year.

Who is eligible for the Gujarat electric scooter scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Gujarat.
• You are between 18 and 50 years of age.
• You have 40 percent or more orthopaedic disability, certified on a disability identity card issued by the Social Defence department.
• Your family's SECC-2011 score is between 0 and 20, the band the Directorate treats as Below Poverty Line for this scheme.
• You have not already received a vehicle under this scheme, or, if you have, at least five years have passed and the earlier scooter is no longer working.

Both men and women with orthopaedic disability are covered. There is no separate educational qualification, no employment condition and no requirement to already hold a driving licence for a low-speed electric scooter.

You cannot apply if:

• You are under 18 or over 50 years old.
• Your certified disability is below 40 percent.
• Your disability is not orthopaedic. Visual, hearing, speech and intellectual disabilities are covered by other Gujarat schemes, such as the Divyang Sadhan Sahay Yojana for assistive devices and the Sant Surdas Yojana for monthly assistance, but they are not eligible under this scooter scheme.
• Your SECC-2011 score is above 20.
• You have received the same benefit within the last five years.
• You bought an electric scooter on your own before being selected in the draw. Retrospective reimbursement is not part of the scheme design.

What documents are required for the Gujarat electric scooter scheme?

Carry both originals and self-attested photocopies. The District Social Defence Officer verifies originals at the counter and keeps the copies.

How to apply for the Gujarat electric scooter scheme

1. Watch for the public notice. The Directorate of Social Defence invites applications through an advertisement or a notice circulated to district offices. Applications outside that window are not processed, so this is the step that decides everything else.
2. Collect the application form from the office of the District Social Defence Officer in your district, or download it from the scheme page on sje.gujarat.gov.in if a form is published there for that round.
3. Fill in the form with your name, address, date of birth, disability type and percentage, disability ID card number, SECC-2011 details and bank account details.
4. Attach self-attested copies of the disability certificate, age proof, BPL/SECC proof, Aadhaar and residence proof.
5. Submit the completed form to the District Social Defence Officer and collect a dated acknowledgement or inward number. Keep it — this is what you quote when you follow up.
6. Wait for verification. The district office checks age, disability percentage and SECC score against records.
7. Check the draw result. Verified applicants go into a computerised draw. Selected names are communicated by the district office.
8. Take delivery from the authorised dealer. Once selected, the scooter and its disability kit are supplied at the state-fixed rate, and the Directorate pays the dealer directly.

How to apply offline through the district office

1. Visit the District Social Defence Officer's office at the district headquarters during working hours.
2. Ask whether the current round of applications for the electric scooter scheme is open, and ask for the closing date in writing on the notice board.
3. Hand over the filled form with all annexures and take the acknowledgement.
4. Follow up after four to six weeks quoting the inward number to learn whether your file cleared verification and entered the draw.

Offline is the only route currently described on the Directorate's scheme page. Gujarat's e-Samaj Kalyan portal handles many other Social Justice and Empowerment Department schemes online, but this scooter scheme is administered through the district Social Defence machinery.

How much benefit does the electric scooter scheme provide?

The Directorate of Social Defence states the benefit as the basic price of the electric scooter plus 50 percent of the cost of the disability kit, subject to a ceiling of Rs 25,000. In practice this means:

• The beneficiary receives a vehicle, not cash.
• The disability conversion kit — the side wheels and controls that make the scooter usable by a person with locomotor disability — is cost-shared, with the government paying half.
• Anything above the Rs 25,000 ceiling is borne by the beneficiary.

Because the state-level agency fixes both the model and the rate, the beneficiary's out-of-pocket amount depends on the model selected in that procurement round rather than on local showroom pricing.

How to check your application status

1. Note the inward or acknowledgement number given when you submitted the form. Without it, tracing a file is slow.
2. Visit or telephone the District Social Defence Officer's office and ask for the status of your file by inward number and name.
3. If the district office confirms verification is complete, ask specifically whether your name went into the draw and when results are expected.
4. For an unresolved case, escalate to the Directorate of Social Defence, Gandhinagar, on +91 79 23256309.

There is no SMS or online status tracker published for this scheme, which is why keeping the acknowledgement matters more here than in an online scheme.

Common reasons applications are rejected

• Disability percentage below 40 on the certificate, even by a small margin.
• Disability type other than orthopaedic — the single most frequent reason, because many applicants assume any Divyang card qualifies.
• Age outside 18 to 50 on the date of application.
• SECC-2011 score above 20, which puts the household outside the intended income band.
• Expired or unregistered disability certificate not issued by the Social Defence department.
• Incomplete form or missing annexure, particularly the BPL score proof.
• Applying outside the notified window, which makes the form invalid regardless of eligibility.
• Repeat application within five years of an earlier sanctioned scooter.

Most of these are fixable. A disability certificate can be re-assessed at the district civil hospital's medical board, and an incorrect SECC entry can be taken up with the taluka development office.

Key dates to remember

The scheme has no fixed annual calendar published. The Directorate of Social Defence opens applications by public notice, so the practical advice is to check the scheme page on sje.gujarat.gov.in and the district Social Defence Officer's notice board every few months. Once selected, delivery follows the state procurement cycle rather than a fixed date.

How to raise a grievance

• Directorate of Social Defence, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Block 16, Ground Floor, Sector 10, Gandhinagar 382010. Phone +91 79 23256309.
• District Social Defence Officer in your own district for application-stage problems such as a lost file or a disputed SECC score.
• Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Gujarat for policy-level grievances.

No fee is charged for the application form or for submitting it, and no dealer or agent can demand money to "get your name into the draw". The draw is computerised and the payment is settled by the Directorate directly with the authorised dealer.