Govt introduces e-ticketing at Shat Gambuj Mosque and Bagerhat Museum

The government today (20 January) launched 'mygov e-ticketing' service at the historic archaeological site of Shat Gambuj Mosque and adjacent Bagerhat Museum to ease visitors' entry, evading long queues, officials said here today.

The Archaeology Department introduced the service with the assistance of the Aspire to Innovate (a2i), a special government programme to promote e-Governance.

Chief Adviser's special assistant on Posts, Telecommunications and ICT, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, formally introduced the service after QR code scanning of his online ticket through his mobile phone to enter the site, marking the opening of the service.

"This initiative will take the people-friendly digital service further and will enhance transparency and accountability in government revenue management," he told the opening ceremony.

He said at the ceremony that the service was also a real and visible progress in building a "new Bangladesh".

"Our priority is to improve visitors' experiences alongside preservation of the heritage," Archaeology Department's director general Sabina Alam told the function, while a2i head of project management Abdullah Al Fahim called the service a "complete digital visitors management solution".

Unesco declared the 15th-century Islamic monument of Shat Gambuj Mosque, also called Sixty Dome Mosque, a World Heritage Site in 1985, while it was built by Turkish-born general and Sufi saint Khan Jahan Ali, whose nearby shrine also draws a huge number of visitors.

The shrine, however, has been kept beyond the ticketing system.

Bagerhat Museum's custodian Mohammad Zayed told BSS that despite being an archaeological site, prayers are still offered at Shat Gambuj Mosque, while people can enter the mosque to offer prayers without tickets.

"A gate in the northern side of the mosque is open for people's entry for prayers, and they can also witness its archaeological features. But the connecting gate to the museum will remain closed for those who do not have tickets," he said.

Under the a2i management, the e-ticketing system was first introduced at Dhaka's Lalbagh Fort on June 30, last year, and some three lakh visitors took the service in the last six months, earning the government revenue of nearly Taka 1.10 crore.

a2I officials said they planned to bring 28 more historical establishments underthe  E-ticketing platform in phases.

a2I senior consultant Fazlul Jahid Pavel, Chief Technology Adviser Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner of Bagerhat  Golam Mohammad Baten and other senior government officials, among others, were present at the event.