Middle class finds fault with Centre & State not coming to its rescue

Hyderabad: Increase in the income-tax limit seem to be the widespread aspiration among the middle-class populace ahead of the Union budget to be tabled in Parliament in February. The reasons are varied and sound credible. They blamed the Centre and the State governments for the current plight they have had to cope with for the past three years.

The struggle of L Ramulu, with wife and three children, exposes how people have fallen from middle income to lower to Below Poverty Level (BPL) categories.

He says till two years ago he was not an auto driver and earned a handful income plying three cabs on rent for IT companies in Manikonda and Madhapur.

"I shifted to Hyderabad when I could not find work with a reasonable income. Also, education of children is the prime driver to shift to Hyderabad five years ago," he said. Mortgaging his 1/4 acre land in village he had purchased three cabs and plied them on rent to IT companies. The cab rentals yielded Rs 76,000 a month, after deducting maintenance and meeting diesel expenses.

Besides, Ramulu hired two drivers and drove a cab himself. However, the whole thing had turned topsy-turvy with IT staff switching to work-from-home mode due to Covid. This resulted in loss of his rental contract with the companies. The banks had initially given the first time of moratorium for payment of EMIs but did not extend it the second time. This resulted in mounting financial pressure on him to clear the bank loan EMIs and meet home expenses; besides, everyday harassment of school to clear fee dues for his children.

"I could not bear the pressure. I closed my bank loan clearing the pending dues by selling my land and paid school fee. There are many from Nalgonda who met the same fate and now driving autos or are engaged in other jobs," he says. Also, since I had three cabs two years ago, I was denied ration cards under the BPL category, he rues.

Ramulu finds fault with the Centre and the State government for not being able to come to the rescue of people at a time when the purchasing capacities of the middle class got depleted at lightning speed.

Y Srilakshmi, a senior teacher in a private school in Kothapet, voices the same. "Initially our salaries were cut to half by the school management; even payments were made irregularly. I had to continue to work, fearing loss of job." However, there is no respite from either the Centre or the State. She and her husband, working as a supervisor at a construction company, had to exhaust their PF to meet day-to-day expenses.

The school management did not increase salary in the past two years nor cleared the pending dues in the name of loss citing Covid.

"We never felt so helpless as our financial situation took a beating in the last two years. It did not improve so far."

She says "if the IT limit is increased in the coming Union budget." the middle-class people will give much-needed relief from the growing transportation, groceries prices, LPG, power and other expenses.'