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• There is a real danger for people who have taken stands especially when using the RTI Act of India 2005, but then one will not live forever. And also, there is some truth in the saying that it all comes around eventuallyA few weeks ago, I received a veiled sort of threatening call in connection with one of the articles I had written, and happened to mention this to a friend of mine. These things have stopped bothering me now, for more than one reason, because if somebody has to do something—they will not threaten. Agreed, there is a real danger for people who have taken stands especially when using the RTI (Right to Information) Act of India 2005, but then one will not live forever. And also, there is some truth in the saying that it all comes around eventually.

Here is one such episode:

• This was way back in December 2005. The episode is picked up from a previous article on Moneylife, which itself was about a government officer being burnt by the fuel mafia in Maharashtra: The fuel mafia must go up in flames.“If you live in any city for any length of time, you very soon get to learn which are the ‘good’ filling stations and which are suspect. By and large, the “CoCo”, or “Company Owned Company Operated” pumps are reliable, and the long lines of motor vehicles waiting outside would bear testament. And then, there are those which are totally unreliable, which even the locals avoid.

• One such filling station, operated by HPCL, was located inside the largely residential area of Aundh. Living in nearby Baner myself, I had been warned not to take diesel from there, by others in the same area. Despite this, one fine day when I was away, the office staff decided to top up the car-and took fuel from there.I got into Pune, and as soon as I started driving the car, felt the difference in performance. So I went to the filling station in question, and asked to see the owner, the manager and the complaint book. The answer I got from the attendants was, in all three cases, that the owner was a senior Congress politician, Datta Gaikwad, in those days loyal to Suresh Kalmadi, who was also a leading HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation) distributor as well as kingpin in the automobile and fuel business in and around Pune and for that matter all over the Maharashtra and Goa belt, and that I could lump it but nothing and nobody was available.

• In addition, I was given the usual spiel by the hangers-on about how non-Maharashtrians were damaging the fabric of the city, which was even then becoming the standard ploy.So, in the next phase, I decided to escalate the issue to HPCL. One Mr Ingle was listed as the HPCL area manager and his mobile phone number was provided. I called Mr Ingle, who gave me, in turn, the royal run-around, and directed me to visit his office, offer a written complaint, provide him with samples, and do many more things, in triplicate and in three bottles full. Interestingly, within one hour of that phone call by yours truly, I started receiving calls from the dealer as well as his ‘friends’ who wished to meet me, to advise me. In Pune, people know what this ‘advice’ means.

• A lesser man would have given up at this juncture-but by then I was in full flow, so I escalated the issue by email and written letters to everybody there was at HPCL. Interim, of course, I made sure I avoided Aundh—because by then HPCL and their cohorts, one GSV Prasad Gottipati, chief regional manager, presiding, had started laying on the heat. Open threats, followed by tapping of telephone bills and data therein, as well as insinuations which were followed by a major campaign by no less than the chief manager, PR & Corp Communication, Laxman Motwani, to force me into withdrawing my complaint.

• The matter then reached another level when the Maharashtra Herald, an independent newspaper in those days, organised a methodical survey of over 60 filling stations in the Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad area, for fuel quantity and quality. The report was carried on its front page and was very illuminating. The MH was sold to the Pawars subsequently and the rest is media history.Eventually, of course, somebody from assorted directors and chairman’s offices offered apologies. Another bunch promised action. Some people got transferred around. And Life went on.”Till, somebody from Pune sent me a link to another article, this time by the “Pune Mirror”. Which also showed that I had mis-spelt the name, the proper spelling was “Ingale”. Manohar Ingale. I have it in my old correspondence.

• CBI nets HPCL officer—“The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has raided several flats, offices and bungalows belonging to Manohar Maruti Ingale, a project manager with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) on Friday evening.” Could this be, perchance, the same Manohar Ingale, who was probably involved in threatening me? And what, by now, has happened to Datta Gaikwad and Suresh Kalmadi?

• But that’s not the point. The bigger point is this—we cannot live in fear of what may happen all our life. Yes, risks have to be taken, and precautions taken to counter threats. But one can not stop doing what one has to because of threats.Each one of the players mentioned in this report above, and more, all the way up to the top at HPCL, pushed me in a variety of ways.At the same time, there were even more people from HPCL who quietly provided me with information on this, and more.

• You have your choices, you can stand in front. Or you can fight from the sidelines, even from behind, but fight to improve things you must.This article is by way of thanks to the army of people from HPCL, some serving, some retired and yes, and yes, some unfairly fired, who helped.(Veeresh Malik started and sold a couple of companies, is now back to his first love—writing. He is also involved actively in helping small and midsize family-run businesses re-invent themselves. Mr Malik had a career in the Merchant Navy which he left in 1983, qualifications in ship-broking and chartering, a love for travel, and an active participation in print and electronic media as an alternate core competency, all these and more.)

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