Power system ‘glitch’ takes down 30,000 Bangladesh government websites

A power system ‘hiccup’ at an office of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited or BTCL in Dhaka has left around 30,000 government websites inaccessible.

The problem in the power system of the server for the dot gov dot bd (.gov.bd) domain occurred at the Moghbazar BTCL on Sunday morning, said Arfe Elahi, chief technological officer of a2i, the developer of the National Web Portal of Bangladesh.

Around 40,000 government websites operate under the portal.

“The problem is not in the portal or server. The sites cannot be accessed because of a problem in the power system. The BTCL is working to solve the problem,” said Elahi.

It will be possible to restart a part of the server one the problem is solved, but it will take some time to get the entire system back on, he said, adding that all the sites will be accessible gradually.

Most of the around 42,000 websites of government ministries and agencies are operated through the BTCL server while the rest are under the National Data Centre, according to him.

BTCL Managing Director Md Rafiqul Matin said some inverters burnt due to the problem, leaving the websites inaccessible.

“We’ve installed new inverters. It will take some time for the sites to restart,” he added.

The websites of the ministries of public administration, education and law, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, Directorate General of Food, and a2i could not be accessed until 7pm.

Elahi said 62 websites are considered sensitive. They include those of the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Division. Some of these websites were down due to the glitch as well, he added.