Bengaluru: Bengaluru has been known to be a cosmopolitan city for quite a long time and although people call it a metropolitan city, Bengaluru never had the metropolitan tag yet. In a bid to recognise Bengaluru as a metropolitan city, Member of Parliament, Tejasvi Surya raised a discussion on the matter with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Tejasvi Surya raised the issue of metropolitan residents receiving a 50 percent House Rent Allowance (HRA) deduction while non-metro residents receive only a 40 per cent deduction during the Parliament’s Zero Hour Discussion.
He said that Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata have the metropolitan title, as well as the fact that Bengaluru is not a metropolitan city. “The maximum HRA deduction is only 40 per cent in Bengaluru because it is not considered a metropolitan city. Bengaluru is known to have workforces that are some of the highest paid in the country”, he added.
“My request to the Finance Minister is to reassess the I-T rules in Karnataka and officially recognise Bengaluru as a metropolitan city. This way, working professionals in the city can be entitled to a 50 per cent HRA deduction as they can stand to benefit,” Tejasvi said.
With all the infrastructure and progress seen within the city, residents of Bengaluru believe that their city is entitled to the Metropolitan tag. A resident from Indiranagar of Bengaluru noted that the city has seen a fast-paced development spree with all the hints of a metropolitan city. She further said that the city is well-connected, has a great startup ecosystem, and has several plush localities among other features that make a metropolitan city. By raising this discussion, Tejasvi Surya who represents the Bengaluru South constituency has made this appeal for salaried employees to have a higher standard of living in the city.