  The gauged $B - L$ symmetry is one of the simplest and well studied extension
of standard model. In the conventional case, addition of three singlet right
handed neutrinos each transforming as $-1$ under the $B - L$ symmetry renders
it anomaly free. It is usually assumed that the $B - L$ symmetry is
spontaneously broken by a singlet scalar having two units of $B - L$ charge,
resulting in a natural implementation of Majorana seesaw mechanism for
neutrinos. However, as we discuss in this proceeding, there is another simple
anomaly free solution which leads to Dirac or inverse seesaw masses for
neutrinos. These new possibilities are explored along with an application to
neutrino mixing with $S_3$ flavour symmetry.
