Battery Operated Wheelchair by Welfare of Differently Abled Persons Department

What is the Battery Operated Wheelchair scheme?

Battery Operated Wheelchair by Welfare of Differently Abled Persons Department is an assistive device scheme of the Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, Government of Tamil Nadu. Under it, battery-operated wheelchairs are given free of cost to persons affected by muscular dystrophy and tetraplegia.

The department's stated aim for its assistive device programme is to make differently abled persons independent in terms of their mobility and communication with others, and to provide need-based devices rather than a standard kit. The battery-operated chair is the clearest example of that principle. A person with advanced muscular dystrophy or with tetraplegia, paralysis affecting all four limbs; cannot self-propel a manual wheelchair, because the arms and shoulders that a manual chair depends on are precisely what the condition has taken away. A manual chair for such a person is not mobility; it is dependence on whoever is available to push. A powered chair restores independent movement.

Scale of the scheme. According to the department's 2025-26 policy note, in the financial year 2024-25 battery-operated wheelchairs were supplied to 701 beneficiaries at an expenditure of Rs 775.83 lakh. A budget allocation of Rs 1,200.82 lakh is provided for 2025-26. A rise of more than 50 per cent, and the second largest allocation among the department's 23 assistive device heads.

Across all assistive devices, the department spent Rs 11,364.20 lakh in 2024-25 to benefit 31,585 beneficiaries with 23 types of aids and appliances, with Rs 7,371.36 lakh provided in the 2025-26 Budget Estimate.

Who is eligible for a battery operated wheelchair, and who is excluded?

A person can claim if:

• The applicant is affected by muscular dystrophy or tetraplegia. This is the defining condition of the scheme, the powered chair is targeted at those two groups because their upper-limb strength cannot operate a manual chair.
• The applicant has a benchmark disability of 40 per cent and above, as defined under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
• The applicant holds a disability certificate from the appropriate certifying authority, issued at a medical board in a Government Medical College Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital, Taluk or non-Taluk hospital, or at a special camp.
• The applicant holds a National Identity Disability Card (NIDC) or UDID card, issued by the District Differently Abled Welfare Office on the basis of the certificate. 8,94,220 UDID cards had been generated and delivered as on 31 March 2025.
• The applicant is resident in Tamil Nadu and applies in the district of residence.

A person cannot claim if:

• The disability is assessed below 40 per cent. The benchmark threshold governs every benefit of this department, and a claim below it is not eligible.
• There is no disability certificate, or the temporary certificate has lapsed.
• The condition is not muscular dystrophy or tetraplegia. Persons with other locomotor conditions remain eligible for the department's other devices: foldable wheelchairs, tricycles, callipers, crutches, artificial limbs and, for spinal cord affected persons, retrofitted petrol scooters, but not for this particular scheme.
• The applicant has already received a battery-operated wheelchair that is still within its serviceable life. Replacement is governed by the department's separate replacement policy.

How to apply for a battery operated wheelchair

1. Obtain the disability certificate. Attend a medical board at a Government Medical College Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital, Taluk or non-Taluk hospital, or a departmental special camp. The certificate must record the condition — muscular dystrophy or tetraplegia, and the percentage of disability.
2. Obtain the NIDC or UDID card from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office on the basis of the certificate.
3. Collect the application form for assistive devices from the District Differently Abled Welfare Office during office hours, or download it from your district's website. Every district maintains a District Differently Abled Welfare Officer for this purpose.
4. Attach the documents; disability certificate, NIDC or UDID card, Aadhaar, residence proof and passport-size photographs, and, if available, a specialist's assessment supporting the need for a powered chair.
5. Submit the application to the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer and collect the acknowledgement. Applications are also accepted at the department's special camps; 4,326 camps were conducted in 2024-25 through mobile therapy units, benefiting 16,174 differently abled persons.
6. Attend the screening or assessment when called. Selection is against the annual allocation, and the assessment confirms that a powered chair rather than a manual one is the correct device.
7. Choose the model, if you wish. Under the choice-based system, indicate whether you want the basic assured model or a costlier one, and be ready to pay the difference for the latter.
8. Collect the wheelchair at the distribution event, signing the department's record.

How the choice-based system works

The department introduced a choice-based system in 2021-22 to let differently abled persons select the appliance model of their own choice. As an initial step, it was applied to tricycles, wheelchairs, battery-operated wheelchairs, behind-the-ear hearing aids, motorised sewing machines and retrofitted petrol scooters.

The rule is simple: the beneficiary is given a subsidy sufficient for the basic assured model. If the price of the chosen model exceeds that subsidy, the excess cost has to be borne by the differently abled person. In the financial year 2024-25, 333 beneficiaries used this route.

This matters for a powered chair more than for most devices, because seating, positioning, control type and battery range vary enormously by condition. A person with advanced muscular dystrophy may genuinely need a specification the assured model does not offer.

What else the department supplies

Battery-operated wheelchairs sit within a list of 23 assistive devices. Figures below are for the financial year 2024-25.

Replacement of damaged units. New appliances are given again to beneficiaries whose retrofitted scooters have worn out after ten years, and to those who received behind-the-ear hearing aids and Braille watches three years ago. For this purpose, 25 per cent of the annual allocation is earmarked within the usual budget.

Hi-tech physiotherapy equipment. A separate scheme provides standing frames to 1,000 differently abled children affected with intellectual disability and cerebral palsy, with a budget of Rs 1 crore; 217 beneficiaries had received them at an expenditure of Rs 17.80 lakh.

What muscular dystrophy patients get besides the wheelchair

• Day care centres. Fourteen day care centres for persons affected with muscular dystrophy are operated across the state by non-governmental organisations, in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Madurai, Tiruvannamalai, Salem, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Coimbatore, Villupuram, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri and Thanjavur. They provide physiotherapy, speech therapy and basic medical diagnostic services. In 2024-25, Rs 160.79 lakh benefited 464 beneficiaries, with Rs 193.52 lakh allocated for 2025-26.
• Maintenance allowance, paid monthly to differently abled persons including those affected by muscular dystrophy with 40 per cent and above disability, without any income test.
• Mobile therapy units, which take rehabilitation services from district headquarters to the doorstep in rural areas to 4,326 camps in 2024-25 reaching 16,174 persons, at an expenditure of Rs 136.16 lakh, with Rs 168.02 lakh allocated for 2025-26.

Why applications fail

• Disability below 40 per cent on the certificate, which places the applicant outside the benchmark threshold.
• Certificate does not name muscular dystrophy or tetraplegia, so the applicant is assessed for a manual chair instead.
• Certificate expired. Temporary certificates lapse and must be renewed.
• NIDC or UDID card not obtained, leaving no departmental record.
• Annual allocation exhausted. The scheme is capped by budget; an application not reached this year is normally carried to the next distribution.
• Applied in the wrong district, rather than the district of residence.

Help and grievance

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-425-0111, set up exclusively for differently abled persons at the State Resource cum Training Centre, Chennai.
• Hearing impaired persons: WhatsApp video call 9499933703.
• District level: the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer.
• State level: the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled, No. 5, Kamarajar Salai, Chennai 600 005 to scd.tn.gov.in.

The wheelchair is supplied free of cost for the assured model. No agent can charge a fee to place an applicant on the distribution list.

How to check your application status

This scheme runs on an offline, camp-based process, so there is no online portal login or application-tracking number to check against. Status has to be confirmed through the office or camp where the application was submitted.

1. Keep the acknowledgement safe. When the application is submitted to the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer, or handed in at a special camp, an acknowledgement receipt is issued. This receipt is the only proof of submission and the reference point for any follow-up, so applicants should note the date and place of submission along with it.
2. Contact the District Differently Abled Welfare Office directly. Since there is no centralised tracking number, the district office that received the form is the first and primary point of contact. A visit or phone call to that office, quoting the acknowledgement date, is the standard way to learn whether the file has moved to the screening or assessment stage.
3. Call the toll-free helpline. The department's toll-free number, 1800-425-0111, run through the State Resource cum Training Centre in Chennai, can be used to ask about the general status of assistive-device distribution and to be directed to the right district contact. Hearing-impaired applicants can use the WhatsApp video call number 9499933703 instead of a voice call.
4. Watch for the screening or assessment call. Because selection runs against the annual budget allocation, applications are not processed strictly on a fixed timeline; the applicant is typically informed by the district office when a screening or assessment date is fixed. There is no independent way to see this on a portal, it depends on the district office reaching out.
5. Ask specifically whether the current year's allocation is exhausted. If the annual funds for battery-operated wheelchairs under this head have already been used, a submitted application is ordinarily carried forward to the next distribution cycle rather than rejected outright. The district office can confirm whether a pending application falls into this category.
6. Escalate to the state Commissionerate if the district office is unresponsive. Applications with no update after a reasonable period can be raised with the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled, No. 5, Kamarajar Salai, Chennai 600 005, whose contact details are listed on scd.tn.gov.in.