He alleged that oil was going outside the State illegally with the exchequer losing Rs 3 lakh daily. He said when Industries Minister and sub-panel chairman Suresh Mehta denied the charges, the millers had challenged that they would send an oil tanker outside the State and deliver it wherever the government wanted.

"If the government can detect and seize the tanker, we will donate it to the government," the millers are learnt to have told the Minister at yesterday's meeting in Gandhinagar. The government did not accept the challenge.

The millers claimed the farmers' lobby is planning to begin agitation over against the restrictions.

According to Patel, the State produces about 3,000 tonnes of oil daily as against the consumption of about 1,000 tonnes. If the oil is not going out of the State, why the prices are rising, he asked. And despite a bumper crop in all the groundnut producing states, why the prices are skyrocketing, he asked further.