Sone Mahotsava

As I left Bagaha for joining duties as SP of Rohtas district in August 2008, I was inspired by the words of a senior police officer at Muzaffarpur, who made a mention of the famous Rohtas Fort, which had almost been forgotten for quite some time and was away from mainstream tourism. Even many police officers posted in Rohtas had not visited it.

After a murder in the 1980’s of a person who was on a visit to the Fort, the Rohtas Fort had remained obscure for general visitors. Tourism at the historically famous fort suffered earlier due to the fear of dacoit gangs, and presently it was due to the presence of Maoists who had reportedly also used the Fort Premises occasionally to impart training to newly recruited cadres. The senior cop mentioned that if something could be done which would restore the semblance of Rohtas, it would be great. With these words in mind and with a long cherished dream of seeing the fort in all its majesty, I joined Rohtas.

In the initial days in 2008, the conditions were not very encouraging. The police had still not overcome the fear of losses suffered during several Maoist incidents which were quite fresh in their memory. The police had not visited major areas on the Kaimur Hills for a long time, and successive efforts for conducting anti naxal operations on the Kaimur Hills had often resulted in losses for the police.


It was in this background that the police activity on the Rohtas Fort started. The history of the Fort was not very well known, and most people knew it only as somewhat related to the activities of the medieval ruler Sher Shah Suri. Even good photographs of the Fort were not publically available, and not much information was available on the internet.

To be continued....