Visitors in trouble as 484 government websites go offline

Visitors are unable to receive any service from 484 government-run websites as they remain suspended due to technical glitches linked with the servers.

Although over 500 websites, including the ones of different ministries, initially experienced the glitch, currently the websites of different government offices and directorates are facing the glitches, confirmed sources at Access to Information (a2i) program under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Officials said the servers have been facing technical glitches for few days due to recent increase in visitor traffic and uploading of contents on the websites. But the websites will become functional once the servers’ maintenance are completed within next two days.

Sources at a2i said the problems were so severe that it almost stopped access to the websites of PMO, or Cabinet Division for visitors. But the problems involving the sensitive websites has almost been solved.

Currently, only websites linked with different offices and directorates and some ministries are facing the glitches.

Mohammad Arfe Elahi, the chief technology officer at a2i, told Dhaka Tribune that there are 33,000 government websites, including 62 sensitive ones — such as Cabinet Division, Bangabhaban and the PMO — and 484 others related to different directorates and other offices.

“We host these websites under two centres — one at the National Data Centre and another under Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Five days ago, the capacity of the hosting centre, which manages 484 websites, got overwhelmed due to heavy traffic,” he said.

“We are working to expand the servers’ capabilities to restore the websites’ normal functions,” he added.

According to Elahi, the sensitive websites’ normal functions have already been restored, but it will take two-three days to restore the other 484.

“We have informed the ministries concerned that it will take 72 to 120 hours to finish server extensions. If there is no major problem, the websites will be restored by Monday,” he added.