Bhubaneswar, April 17: Sreeja Poonam, a 25-year-old architect, wanted information about the steps that she could take against the in-laws of her sister who was being harassed for dowry.

"I was out of Bhubaneswar then and my sister lived in a village that is about 120km from the capital city. She had no one to go to and asked for my help. I wanted to lodge a complaint on behalf of her. But, I was not sure how to go about it," said Sreeja.

Sreeja also said that her sister did not have the courage to take action on her own. "I searched the Internet and found out the women's helpline number of the state police. But, I could not reach the number despite several attempts, as it was not working. Then I called some of my friends and went to the Sakhi woman centre at Capital Hospital after a fortnight," she added.

Similarly, another important helpline number for the elderly is also lying dysfunctional. A random survey conducted by The Telegraph found that four of the 10 helpline numbers of Odisha Police are not functioning. When one dials these helpline numbers in times of distress, he/she will only be greeted by an automated response that would say: "The number you have dialled is not valid. Please check the number and call again."

The highly ambitious helpline service of the state government has thus fallen flat as various departments and agencies in charge of its maintenance have failed miserably in discharging their duties.

The state government has around 14 toll-free helplines for its various services. But, many of these are either not available most of the times and or are not functioning anymore.

In May 2015, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had launched a dedicated helpline number and a Facebook page to report allegations of corruption. The Telegraph tried calling the number - 1064 - umpteen times over a span of seven days.

On most occasions, none picked up the call or an automated voice reply message - "Sorry, you cannot call on this number" was heard. The Facebook page of the anti-corruption initiative is also not frequently updated.

Similar is the case with the panchyat helpline centre's number 18003456768. The number remains non-functional after 5pm even on weekdays, while it is supposed to be available till 8pm. The state government had also launched the drinking water helpline number - 1800234566 - recently, which is also not working.

The BJP had also recently slammed the Naveen Patnaik government for not implementing any helpline when the state was reeling from severe water scarcity. The helpline of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and that of the commercial tax support wing are also not working.

When told, Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said that one could lodge complaints related to civic services through the Sanjog Helpline, a toll-free number for registering grievances related to state government schemes.

"We will also try to make our independent helpline active," he added.

Satyajit Mohanty, state's additional director general of police (headquarters), also said: "We will try to make our helplines functional. I will get in touch with the team handling the helplines and fix the problems. But, all the phone numbers of the officers of our department are available on the Internet and if anyone needs help, we are always available."

Only a few of helplines of the state government - those of the Odisha Tourism and the ones for school students, migrant labourers and consumers - are active and responding to calls.