Chandigarh, Aug 17 (PTI) The Haryana government has accorded approval to acquire 349 acres of panchayat land of three adjoining villages Asan Kalan, Khandra and Bal Jattan for expansion of Indian Oil Corporation's Panipat Refinery.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Thursday, said an official statement.

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According to the statement, the IOCL will acquire 140 acres of Asan Kalan village, 57 acres of Khandra and 152 acres of Bal Jattan village. In addition to the land cost, the refinery will separately pay Rs 10 lakh per acre for development works in the villages.

The state-owned oil behemoth has established its Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Panipat in an area of more than 4,200 acres. The IOCL had requested the Haryana government for giving about 600 acres of land for the expansion of the refinery, out of which 349 acres of land have been made available by the government. Additional Chief Secretary, Development and Panchayat Department, Anil Malik, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, V Umashankar, Director General, Development and Panchayat Department, D K Behera, Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, Virender Dahiya, representative of IOCL, Sarpanches of Asan Kalan and Khandra and Bal Jattan villages, were also present in the meeting.

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)