LUCKNOW, NOVEMBER 29 The young sales manager might have thought he was killing two birds with one stone. When S Manjunath, the murdered IOC executive, recommended increasing the number of petrol pumps in Lakhimpur Kheri district, he would not only have addressed the sliding diesel sales figures but also loosened the grip of the cartel that controlled oil business in the region.

During his two-year stint as an oil executive in the region—IOC’s first independent sales manager in over a decade—the 27-year-old approved the opening of seven petrol pumps.

These were Sadguru Filling Station, (Patrasi), Laxmi Filling Station (Sikandarabad), Harnam and Sons (Sisaiya), L D Filling Station (Mittauli), Beear Service Station (Gola Tehsil), Balajee Filling station (Sisokan) and Sriram Kisan Sewa Kendra (Pasgawan).

The district had been under the additional charge of the sales officer of Shahjahanpur. When Manjunath took independent charge in 2003, say sources in the IOC, he wanted to turn around the decreasing graph of diesel sale in the district. Lakhimpur is a big market for diesel because it abuts on a sugarcane growing countryside. ‘‘In 2002-3, the IOC sold about 3.43 crore litres of diesel in Lakhimpur district. But the figure went down to 3.16 crore litres in 2003-4,’’ said an IOC official.

Manjunath decided to overcome this problem by recommending new outlets for IOC’s oil. Other companies caught on and they too opened new filling stations. According to sources, Hindustan Petroleum started two new petrol pumps, Bharat Petroleum three and IBP opened one. IBP also appointed two new dealers.

According to IOC sources, oil companies were given a free hand in 2001 to select dealers in different parts of the country. ‘‘Sales officers were tasked to understand the emerging trend of customer behaviour in the market. They inspected the site of the proposed filling station in the areas under their jurisdiction and assessed business potential. They would then send a report to the company, giving the green signal for the opening of new petrol pump,’’ explained an IOC source.