Bhubaneswar, Dec. 4: Businessman Jitendra Mishra, 40, a resident of Baramunda, was in for a pleasant surprise when he went to a local petrol pump to refuel his car today.

Mishra met a friend at the petrol pump in front of Kali Mandir at Baramunda who told him that he could swipe his debit card there to get Rs 2,000 in cash.

"I had seen it on TV that one could avail the facility, but had never tried it myself before today," he said.

An attendant at the fuel station promptly handed Mishra over a new Rs 2,000 currency note to Mishra as soon as he swiped his card there.

"It is a much better option than standing in queues in front of the ATMs. The process was absolutely hassle-free," he said.

Post-demonetisation, withdrawing money has emerged as a big challenge for people. As ATMs are running out of cash every now and them and banks are finding it difficult to cope with the rush especially after salary day, petrol pumps in Bhubaneswar that have point-of-sale terminals offered by State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have started dispensing cash to people from Saturday.

Sales professional Asish Balabantaray, 28, a resident of Rasulgarh, said that he had also availed the facility at a petrol pump on Cuttack-Puri road. "It is convenient as people would be spared the torture of standing in queues in front of ATMs. However, the withdrawal limit should be enhanced," he said.

Utkal Petroleum Dealers' Association general secretary Sanjay Lath said that when the central government had introduced the facility earlier, the banks were supposed to dispense Rs 1 lakh per day to petrol pumps for the purpose.

The Union government, in a bid to mitigate the woes of people troubled with long queues at banks and ATMs post-demonetisation, had announced on November 17 that select petrol pumps with card-swipe machines from State Bank of India would be allowed to dispense Rs 2,000 per person per day.

The move, initially suggested by the All-India Petroleum Dealers' Association, is a part of the Centre's efforts to ease the rush for new currency notes at bank branches and functional ATMs (cash dispensing machines) following withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The facility to dispense cash from petrol pumps has continued even after November 24, the time till which old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 was allowed for payment for essential services. The withdrawal, however, has been restricted to Rs 2,000 per debit card per day.