VARANASI, Dec. 19 -- Buckling under pressure after a section of seers recently objected to the notices issued to several Maths and temples in Varanasi seeking payment of pending water, sewer and house taxes, municipal commissioner Himanshu Nagpal on Thursday said the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) has exempted all places of worship, including temples, maths, gurudwaras and mosques, from house tax and that 50 percent rebate will be given on water and sewer taxes. "No action is proposed against any place of worship," he added. The notices, issued on December 7 by the VNN to around half-a-dozen places of worship, including Patalpuri Math, stated if the dues are not deposited by March 31, 2026, recovery proceedings under Section 512 of the Nagar Nigam Act would be initiated and water and sewer connections could be disconnected under Section 72(A) of the Uttar Pradesh Water Supply and Sewerage System Act. Following this, a section of seers, including Patalpuri Math chief Jagadguru Baba Balak Devacharya, Mahant Shravan Das, Mahant Avadh Bihari Das and others, raised their objections in a meeting last week. Some members also warned of street protests if their objections were not addressed. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the civic commissioner said previously, separate house tax bills were issued for buildings besides water and sewer taxes. He further said according to the order issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on May 9, 2025, municipal corporations were instructed to issue integrated bills, including house, water and sewer taxes. "Following the directive, an integrated bill combining theses taxes as property tax is being issued for the first time in the 2025-26 fiscal. To achieve the collection target in the remaining around four months of the current fiscal, demand notices have been issued to all buildings with property tax arrears exceeding Rs.20,000," he added. Sections 175 and 177 of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, state that places of worship are exempt from house tax, but not from water and sewer taxes. If any place of worship falls under the purview of Section 80G, they will be given a fifty percent rebate on water and sewer taxes. The civic chief clearly stated that the municipal corporation was not going to take any action against any place of worship. "It is also in the process of identifying all places of worship so that they can be exempted from taxes. So far, 40 temples, 6 mosques, and 1 gurdwara have been identified in the Kotwali zone," he said....