Speaking at a debate on Contamination of Edible Oils Barnala said, ``Owing to the festive season all over the country, there is an additional demand of 15 lakh tonne of edible oils.'' Saying that it was not easy to fulfill such a massive demand, he said, ``To meet the demand, the Centre is buying 1.5 lakh tonne palmolein oil from the international market''.

According to Barnala, the government will pay heavily for the imports. ``As soon as the international oil dealers learnt that a major consumer like India is considering large scale import of oil, they hiked the prices by 50 per cent''.

In addition to this, around 8.5 lakh tonne oil from various sources has already reached major cities of the country. It is being packaged in 1 kg packets by government agencies to make sure that it is easily available to the people.

On the sealed stocks of mustard oil in godwons all over the Capital and the country, he said, ``We are working out an action plan to make sure that oil dealers to not sell the adulterated oil once the panic dies down.'' This plan would decide on where to use the lakhs of tonnes of sealed mustard oil and also how to destroy what cannot be used.

The Medical Superintendent of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, Dr Bharat Singh, stressed the need to set up a testing laboratory of the department of Prevention of Food Adulteration in the city.

``Such centres had been established in Ghaziabad, Pune, Calcutta and Mysore and it is important to have one in the Capital to effectively check adulteration, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the US-based Monsanto Enterprises, which is negotiating a deal with the Central Government for importing the concept of genetically-engineered soyabean seeds, denied allegations that they had any hand in the widespread mustard oil contamination.

In another development the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) today announced that is against the import of genetically engineered soyabean into India as its safety has not been proved beyond doubt.

The DBT officials' comments came in the wake of apprehensions raised at a workshop on biosafety of genetically modified organisms that import of soyabeans from the US may bring in genetically engineered soya into the country.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has reportedly given permission for import of soyabean in split form to ensure that it is eaten but not grown in fields.