Gharaunda-Group Home for Adults Scheme

"Gharaunda-Group Home for Adults scheme", launched by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, aims at setting up Gharaunda Centres or Registered Organisations (RO) for for all Adult PwDs covered under the National Trust Act with adequate and quality care service with acceptable living standards including provision of basic medical care from professional doctors.

The objective of Gharaunda scheme is to provide an assured home and minimum quality of care services throughout the life of the person with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities and ensure the following for them:
• Facilitate establishment of requisite infrastructure for the assured care system throughout the country
• Encourage assisted living with independence and dignity
• Provide care services on a sustainable basis

1. An assured home and minimum quality of care services throughout the life of the PwD.
2. Adequate and quality care service with acceptable living standards including provision of basic medical care from professional doctors.
3. Vocational activities, pre-vocational activities and assistance for further training.

Eligibility criteria for the PwD:

1. PwD should be more than 18 years of age.

2. PwD should have one of the disabilities under the National Trust Act, 1999, which are Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.
   Eligibility criteria for Registered Organization:

3. Applicant should be registered with the National Trust.

4. Applicant should have a valid registration under the PwD Act 1995, at the time of enrolment.

5. The group home land should either be owned by RO or should have lease of at least 10 years with provision of renewal.

6. RO should have minimum 2 years of experience of working with Persons with Disabilities (PwD) with at least one year experience in one of the four disabilities under the National Trust Act.

7. RO should not be blacklisted by the National Trust or any other Government Organization on the date of submission of scheme enrolment form.

Online

> Registered Organisations (ROs) Enrolment (first approval) Process:

STEP 1. The NGO registered with the National Trust logs in to the National Trust website.
STEP 2. The application form is available online on the National Trust website and has to be submitted online only. Application fees for enrolment in the Gharaunda scheme is INR 1000/-.
STEP 3. After the National Trust receives the application form and the documents, these are verified. If there is any missing or incorrectly submitted information, the RO is given 15 days to resubmit it.
Note: The documents related to physical verification of the RO and proposed Gharaunda centre can be submitted either at the time of enrolment for the scheme at the National Trust website or even after the online application form has been submitted. If the RO fails to submit the same on time, they will be given 15 days to submit the documents after receiving notification from the National Trust.
STEP 4. The final decision on the application or proposal is taken after completing all necessary formalities and processes. If the RO meets the scheme criteria and requirements, the application is approved. In case of any discrepancies, the RO is informed accordingly.
STEP 5. Communication to the RO by the National Trust will be made within 15 days from receipt of the application. If any document is missing, the National Trust will communicate to the RO within 10 days.
STEP 6. If the hardcopy of the form and documents is not received within 15 days of online submission, the National Trust will communicate back to the RO within the prescribed deadline.
STEP 7. Once enrolment is completed, a scheme ID is created for the RO, and confirmation of the same is communicated to the RO.
STEP 8. A starter kit/Gharaunda handbook containing the complete details of the Gharaunda scheme is handed over to the RO by the National Trust.
STEP 9. The National Trust begins the fund disbursement process for providing setup costs to the ROs.
The existing Gharaunda centres will also need to follow the same procedure for enrolling under the new scheme, including submission of documents and proposals. The RO will stop receiving benefits under the existing scheme and will start receiving funds under the new scheme.

Enrolment of PwD at the Gharaunda Centre:

STEP 1. PwD comes or is brought to the Centre.
STEP 2. The Gharaunda Centre conducts an Individual PwD Assessment Test with the help of a Therapist or Counsellor to understand the specific needs of the PwD.
STEP 3. If the PwD is orphaned, abandoned, or from a family in crisis, the RO should approach the competent district officials authorized by the State Government to certify the same. There are no additional documents to be submitted for enrolling the PwD in this case. The PwD will automatically be included in the BPL category and enrolled for Niramaya along with registration for Gharaunda.
STEP 3. In all other cases, a check is made to verify if the PwD is eligible for the LIG or BPL funding by the National Trust. The National Trust will generally fund based on the information provided by the RO, but reserves the right to verify it from other sources if necessary.
STEP 5. The parents or guardian are required to fill the Enrolment Form (along with the application fee, if any) and provide original and photocopies of the required documents. The documents and records for each PwD are to be maintained in separate files.
STEP 6. Upon successful verification of the documents, the PwD is enrolled at the Gharaunda centre, and a confirmation Enrolment ID card or receipt is handed over to the beneficiary’s parents or guardians (if any), along with a starter kit. Further details about the starting date, rules, and regulations will be provided by the Gharaunda representatives.
STEP 7. Parents and guardians of the beneficiary are given a detailed explanation of the Niramaya health insurance scheme by the Gharaunda representatives if the beneficiary has not already availed of it. The Gharaunda Centre will mandatorily register the beneficiary under the Niramaya scheme with the agreement of the parents or guardian, in the form of a certification by the parents or guardian.