Chhimi Dema

Many people, who glued themselves to television on December 10, to try their luck on the virtual lucky draw trial, expressed frustration, as the quick response (QR) code displayed on BBS did not function.

Officials from information and communications ministry, health ministry, Thimphu TechPark, Royal Society from STEM and the two telecos formed a team to develop a system for the lucky draw using the Druk Trace app.

They explained that the trial on December 10 failed because the system was overwhelmed. About 69,000 people registered that day. “Even the SMS got congested.”

Officials said Druk Trace app and SMS systems were not designed incapacity to handle the traffic at once. “Accommodating an existing system to new requirements was a challenge,” an official said.

The official also explained that when they monitored the system in the second trial, it was found that all the resources from the five systems were no utilised. “The team is working to optimise these resources,” the official said.

The first trial on December 4 saw about 7,000 successful registrations but only a few numbers of participants.

Officials explained that the virtual lucky draw was initiated to provide an opportunity for Bhutanese residing across the world to participate in the National Day celebration.

To participate in the lucky draw, individuals have to register using the updated version of the Druk Trace app. People have to register their Citizenship Identity Card (CID) number in the app as the intent of participation.

The lucky draw happens with individuals scanning two QR code displayed on television at two different times.

The official said that scanning two QR codes at a different time shows that people are participating by watching.

The official said that the reason for choosing Druk Trace was its familiarity with people and a high number of users.

“Through the virtual lucky draw we are encouraging people to use Druk Trace and reaping the benefit of technology,” the official said. “We are giving our best. We do have backup plans but we want to keep out sight straight and make it possible.”

Individuals without television or smartphones could register through SMS. The radio stations will broadcast the keyword for the lucky draw and people could send the keyword via SMS.

A temporary portal (www.druktrace.gov.bt) was created for Bhutanese residing abroad to register for the lucky draw. A username and password are given for individuals to log into the Druk Trace app after typing personal information.

About 80 Bhutanese from Australia, South Korea, Singapore and India registered so far.

Noting the children under 18 do not have CID numbers and that some parents were not aware of the CID numbers, the team made another portal to acquire CID number for children.

Meanwhile, another trial for the lucky draw will be conducted today.