VMC OTS: 276 Owners Pay Rs 39.36 Lakh in 3 Days

Two hundred seventy-six property owners in Varanasi deposited Rs 39.36 lakh in building tax during the first three days of the municipal One-Time Settlement scheme. Municipal Commissioner Himanshu Nagpal gave the figures in a Friday, 21 August 2026 briefing attributed to the Varanasi Municipal Corporation.

Of that collection, Rs 7.18 lakh in interest and surcharge was waived, the same briefing stated. Nagpal said the entire interest and surcharge are waived when the principal is paid in one go under the OTS window that runs from 15 August to 15 December 2026.

For dues up to Rs 1 lakh, the scheme allows one-third to be paid in the first 30 days, with the remaining two-thirds in two equal monthly instalments, according to the commissioner’s explanation. The early uptake — 276 owners and Rs 39.36 lakh in three days — is the collection news. Earlier August coverage had only announced the scheme's launch.

Varanasi Municipal Corporation is using the OTS route to clear legacy property-tax arrears. Owners who pay the principal in a single transaction get the full waiver Nagpal described. Those who cannot clear the whole principal at once, but whose dues fall within Rs 1 lakh, can still enter through the staged one-third plus two instalments path. Both tracks sit inside the 15 August–15 December 2026 calendar published with the commissioner's remarks.

Three-day figures of 276 owners and Rs 39.36 lakh, with Rs 7.18 lakh waived, give the corporation an early benchmark for the four-month window. The Friday tally is attributed to Municipal Commissioner Himanshu Nagpal’s VMC briefing.

Property tax is a core own-source stream for the Nagar Nigam. Waiver-linked settlement is meant to convert delayed or disputed arrears into cash and close surcharge ledgers. By spelling out both the lump-sum waiver and the instalment option for sub-Rs 1 lakh dues, the Friday briefing aimed to clarify eligibility for owners still deciding whether to enter before mid-December.

No ward-wise break-up, no list of the 276 owners, and no comparison with prior OTS rounds appeared in the commissioner’s cited remarks. The hard numbers stop at the three-day headcount and cash total, the waived interest and surcharge amount, the commissioner-attributed waiver rule for full principal payment, the 15 August–15 December 2026 window, and the instalment schedule for dues up to Rs 1 lakh.

Later collection updates will show whether the opening three-day pace holds through the monsoon and into autumn. For now, the Friday VMC figures supply the first quantified snapshot of Varanasi's current OTS run: 276 building owners, Rs 39.36 lakh deposited, and Rs 7.18 lakh in interest and surcharge written off under rules explained by Municipal Commissioner Himanshu Nagpal.

Owners still weighing the scheme have until mid-December to choose between a full principal settlement with complete waiver and the staged path for dues within Rs 1 lakh. The corporation has not yet published a weekly target against which the opening three-day haul can be scored.