Passengers can now easily detect the location of a train using one of the 500 locally-developed apps that the government will launch today.

One of the applications will enable customers to know about their utility bills from Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Power Development Board, and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

Android users can also get suggestions for primary healthcare, maternity and educational support through the apps developed by Ethics Advanced Technology Ltd (EATLApps) under a Tk 9-crore project of the ICT Division.

The government has rolled out the apps as part of its effort to provide better services to the people, said G Fakhruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, a director of the 500 Applications Development Project.

“We hope it will be easy for people to get government services through the apps developed in Bangla.”

The mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the contact persons of different government agencies will also be found in the apps, he said. The apps will be available on Google store and on an online platform which the government has been developing, he said.

“Anyone can download the applications free.”

Three hundred of the applications will provide services related to the government offices and institutions.

The rest of the apps are innovative in nature, the ideas of which have been collected from 17 public and private universities, Chowdhury said. “Information on utility bills of the last three years will also be seen using one of the apps,” said Rajesh Palit, a director of EATLApps.

There are 10 educational applications, which will help children learn Bangla and English alphabets and practise mathematics, Palit said. Visitors can find popular tourist destinations through an app and even use one of the apps as a medication reminder, Chowdhury said.

Users also can check which products have been tested by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution by an app, he said.

In September last year, the government introduced 100 applications. EATLApps developed 50 of the apps while the rest were made by MCC Ltd.

Currently, Bangladesh has 12.6 crore active mobile connections, nearly 30 percent of whom use smartphones; the number of internet users is 4.74 crore.