Patna, Dec. 24: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today visited the Rohtas Fort, which was till a few years ago considered a liberated zone of the CPI(Maoist).

Accompanied by chief secretary Navin Kumar and director-general of police Abhayanand, Nitish spent about one-and-a-half hours at the fort as part of his four-day Seva Yatra to Rohtas.

The chief minister distributed blankets, torches and radio sets among the residents, mostly belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category. Over 300 people had gathered at the fort to have a glimpse of the chief minister. Besides finding out their problems, Nitish interacted with the security personnel and inquired them about the hardships they faced on the Kaimur plateau.

According to sources, police had carried out massive search operations in areas adjoining the fort to ensure that no untoward incident occurred during the chief minister’s visit.

“The chief minister’s visit will boost the morale of the local residents, who have suffered a lot because of stepped-up Maoist activities,” said Bhupendra Kharbar, a resident of Rohtas.

The Maoists had turned the fort, situated about 80 km south of Sasaram, the districtheadquarters of Rohtas, as one of its training centres. Former Rohtas superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhav had for the first time hoisted the National Flag at the fort after a gap of about 63 years.

Since then, the Tri-colour is unfurled at the Fort by police officials.