Machail Mata base camp wears deserted look as cloudburst triggers pilgrim exodus

About 20 km from the cloudburst-hit Chositi, the main base camp for pilgrims visiting the Machail Mata temple in Kishtwar district tells a different but equally grim story.

The rows of roadside tin shops stand covered with polythene sheets while the shopkeepers owning concrete structures sit idle in the aftermath of the cloudburst on August 14 that left a trail of death and destruction in Chositi, the last motorable village en route the Machail Mata temple.

With the annual yatra to the temple suspended following the disaster, the once-bustling market — the biggest in the Padder sub-division — wears a deserted look.

The stakeholders, including shopkeepers who stocked up for the pilgrimage season, or the restaurateurs, hotels owners and transporters who bought new vehicles on loan, are now a worried lot yet hopeful of a positive turnaround when the rescue operation ends.

Ashish Chouhan, a local businessman, said, “Business has come to a grinding halt, leaving everyone linked with the yatra in deep distress.”

However, Chouhan said they have not lost hope and believe that everything will be normal once the rescue and relief operation gets over.

“The entire market is mourning… Few days back, it was bustling with sounds of religious chants and movement of 2,000-3,000 people — some going for the yatra, others returning,” Ramesh Kumar, owner of a fast food joint, said.

He said they were hardly getting time to rest given the heavy rush but the disaster changed everything. “We know our business will revive but those who are gone will never return,” Kumar said.