Bhubaneswar, Nov. 24: The rush at utility centres accepting the scrapped currencies began early today as people tried to use them before the deadline expired at midnight. By late evening there was relief with the Centre extending the deadline till December 15. However, the extension comes with a rider that allows only scrapped Rs 500 notes to be used at these exempted facilities.

Since early morning, long queues were seen at petrol pumps, medicine shops and various government utility bill payment centres, where scrapped currency notes were being accepted.

Maximum rush was seen at petrol pumps with people not only filling the tanks of their vehicles, but also taking away fuel in cans by making payments in the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. People also thronged government utility payment counters, including those of the BSNL, for making cash payments.

"The old notes will be banned from midnight at all public utility centres, including petrol pumps. I had some scrapped notes left in my wallet so I rushed to take the opportunity to make payments using them for the last time. I got petrol worth Rs 2,000 for my generator and paid in the demonetised currency notes," said Jitendra Hota, a resident of Badagada. Hota had turned up early to beat the rush and hours later the Centre announced extension of the deadline.

There were some angry moments at the petrol pumps as some people vented their anger when they were denied the facility to draw cash by swiping their debit cards.

"A few days back, I heard that people can withdraw cash by swiping their cards at petrol pumps. After trying my luck at several ATMs I went to a petrol pump in Rasulgarh. But there, I was disappointed when they turned down my request," said Aakash Mishra, a private sector employee.

People were also seen paying their taxes at several counters of Public Health Engineering Organization (Pheo), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu).

"I had drawn some cash from my bank before demonetisation. Today, I paid holding tax and cleared my dues of four years," said Biraja Prasad Das, a businessman from Laxmisagar.

"I came to know that today is the last day for the tax collection in old demonetised notes. I went to the post offices, but they refused to receive any payment. Hence, I came to the Pheo counter in Kharavela Nagar, stood in the queue for nearly half an hour and paid my dues," said Satya Nagar resident Girija Nanda.

Pheo superintending engineer C.R. Jena said: "The demonetisation and the decision to allow citizens to pay their taxes using old notes has proved to be a boon for the government. Tax collection was high. We are yet to calculate the exact amount we have collected in the last fortnight. But, it is evidently higher than any previous month".