mumbai long queues at petrol stations may soon make a comeback in mumbai as more than 40 per cent of the citys pumpowners at 67 prime locations have refused to renew their lease agreements with oil companies like hindustan petroleum and bharat petroleumowners of 40 pumps leased by bpcl and 25 by hpcl in areas like hughes road pedder road byculla dadar as well as suburbs like bandra west and juhu have approached the courts under the maharashtra land control act seeking to evict the rich oil companiesthese slick moves by landlords have put the skids under the oil firms because the outlets under dispute contribute almost 50 per cent of bpcls total sales in the city while hpcl is likely to lose 30 per cent of its sales if the evictions go ahead the city consumes an average of 50000 kilo litres every month to power its 11 lakh vehiclesthe hpcl management told its directors that the company had no tenancy protection for 41 sites and 25 landlords were already seeking eviction we will not be able to arrange any alternate sites in mumbai city in view of the nonavailability of suitable sites and high costs hpcl said bpcl is worried that the disputes will mean fewer pumps for filling cng as wellbut pump owners are sanguine that the business is no longer profitable especially in mumbai where alternative uses of real estate can be more profitable analysts say that the property rates of these pump sites easily vary between rs 3 crore to rs 10 crore our lease has expired and since we are paid a measly rental of rs 6000 per monthwe want our land back says one owner who has taken bpcl to courtdealers say petrol pumps are not as lucrative after the government moved to marketbased pricing by removing the administrative pricing mechanism apm last yeara petrol pump in isolation is loss making unless you provide addon services like servicing automotive engine workshops and department stores says ravi shinde president of the oil dealers association in mumbai