The Men’s Hockey World Cup is about to start in a month but a number of tourists have been complaining that the state tourism department officials are not able to provide proper information to their queries and the helpline numbers of the state tourism department are not functioning properly.

One of them said the online helpline numbers and websites of Panthanivas and Odisha Tourism Development Corporation were not functioning properly.

Sambit Nayak, who tried making a booking at a Panthanivas here, but could not reach out to authorities as none of the numbers given on the website was working.

He later tweeted about the problem on social media, but no one from the state tourism department replied.

People are complaining about the lack of response from the authorities through tweets and posts.

“After I could not connect with the Odisha tourism office, I starting calling specific Panthanivas. An official gave me a bank account number to transfer money for a booking. But, the account number and the name did not match and as a result the transaction was not processed,” he said.

Subhankar Misra also faced similar problems. “Telephone cable work is going on at BJB Nagar, where the tourism office is based, therefore all telephone lines are dead. This information was given to me a few days ago when I asked a state tourism department official about the lack of response from them.”

“If we call state tourism department officials to know about a certain festival or cultural show, they are not able to provide correct information. If we are facing such problems, I wonder how difficult it would be for foreign tourists,” said college student Lipirekha Debampriya.

A tour operator feels helpline numbers should be made available 24x7 till the commencement of the Men’s Hockey World Cup.

“Since tourists are going to arrive from different time zones, it is important that the helpline number is active all the time,” said tour operator Madhusmita Swain.

A senior official of the state tourism department said: “We have a lot of alternative numbers, which is mentioned on the Odisha tourism website.”