They build Bengaluru but struggle to live in it!

Are cosmopolitan cities like Bengaluru steadily growing ‘out of reach’ for the mid- dle classes and the poor? This is a question one is tempted to ask in the light of galloping costs of everything from a house to tender coconuts. Making both ends meet in a city where food, transport and accommodation costs have risen exponentially in recent years, particularly in the post-Covid phase, has become a tough task for the common man.

Take the case of housing. Getting a single bedroom apartment in the city will cost you nothing less than 15- 20,000 per month, not to mention the advance amount most house owners insist on.

Purchasing a flat for that matter would have you coughing out Rs 50-60 lakh, depending on the chosen area. Eating out, even for those who by the force of circumstances have no other option, could leave you poorer by Rs 300-400, unless of course, you opt for the subsidised Indira Canteen fare. For those taking out their families for a weekly outing, costs could range from Rs 1500-2000. There is no upper limit of course.

After Namma Metro jacked up fares despite an up-roar, travelling is set to get even more costlier with the transport minister approving a revised fare of Rs 36 for the minimum 2 km. This means travelling from JP Nagar to Shantinagar in the city’s heart will pinch your pocket by Rs 200 provided the driver does not insist on even more blaming the choc-a-bloc traffic! For those riding their private vehicles like bikes or cars, petrol at Rs 100 per litre, is sure to leave a big hole in the pocket.

Teaching your kids in Bengaluru, considered an attractive education hub, is something most parents would love to do but the costs again, are the big turn- off. Leave aside the astronomical admission fees and donations which schools insist on nowadays, the annual fee in most schools is nothing less than Rs 1-2 lakh a year.

Add to these the ‘extras’ in the form of books, uniform and supplementary costs and it would run into at least Rs 3 lakh.

Power tariff, water costs, spiraling cereal and vegetable prices, health expenses - nothing comes cheap in the IT City and that is rendering life extremely difficult for those who toil away in its innumerable offices, build its houses and roads and man its many installations to keep the city up and running.

Government officials, technicians, gig workers or those who spend long hours in the service industry  none of them are having an easy time making both ends meet and inevitably end in debt traps losing their sleep over it. It’s high time the state government or the local administration did an analysis of the cost of living in Bengaluru and came up with more measures to provide a safety net to those crushed under the weight of rising costs.

Low-cost housing, subsidized food grain and vegetable outlets, welfare schemes for city-based workers and affordable health facilities could take some of the burden off the shoulders of the middle- classes who have suffered enough because of pro- rich policies. The rich of course, are rich enough to take care of themselves.