Since I did not want to face opposition from the Maoists in the way of opposing participation of the community in programmes or meetings being called by the Police, the theme of the meetings called for engaging the community was never against the Maoists or did not even name them as a source of disturbance of the region directly, but in fact encouraged people attending the meetings to think of ways to develop peace in their areas so that tourists could think of visiting them without fear which would result in ultimate economic development. 

The initiative was named as ‘Sone Mahotsava’ and had the stated aim of restoring mainstream tourism on the Rohtas Fort. It was started as a community policing project of Rohtas Police and also had its goal to create a better understanding of the history and culture of the Sone Valley and creating a glorious future by taking inspiration from the works of ancestors who were credited with an illustrious and magnificent past of the Sone Valley and Rohtasgarh.

The Sone Mahotsava was conceived to motivate local people to come forward and work together in order to forge social unity amongst the inhabitants of the Sone Valley, and further to remove the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the minds of the people and thus to contribute in the development of the valley. The mission statement which often motivated the local people was that if their ancestors could attain such heights of prosperity in the past as exemplified by the Rohtas Fort, why couldn’t the descendants of such worthy ancestors bring glory and peace to their homeland.

To be continued......