Deserted by pilgrims, Machail Mata base camp reels after Chisoti tragedy

Gulabgarh, Aug 20: About 20 km from the cloudburst-hit Chisoti, the main base camp for pilgrims visiting the Machail Mata temple in Jammu and Kashmir’s 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 Chisoti, 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.

Flash floods triggered by the cloudburst struck Chisoti last week, killing 65 persons, mostly pilgrims, and leaving 100 more injured. A large-scale search operation is underway for 39 persons still reported missing.

A makeshift market, a ‘langar’ (community kitchen) site for the pilgrims, 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge and over a dozen vehicles were also damaged in the incident.

“It (August 14) was the darkest day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, as many lives have been lost. Along with the human tragedy, the economy of Paddar also suffered losses worth crores of rupees,” Ashish Chouhan, a local businessman, told PTI.

Business has come to a grinding halt, leaving everyone linked with the yatra in deep distress, he said.

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 pray for the departed souls. We know our business will revive with Mata’s blessings but those who are gone will never return. Our sympathies are with their families,” Kumar said.

The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday.

The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, about 90 km from Kishtwar town.

For many families, the annual pilgrimage meant big earnings, which helped them survive the year.

But the season has ended abruptly this time.

“We had lots of hope from the yatra. This is a remote pocket and the yatra was the only means of doing business. The guest houses and hotels are empty, so are the restaurants, eateries and shops selling puja ingredients,” Bipin Chouhan, who runs a restaurant in the market, said.

Ever since the disaster, he said, people in the market only hear blaring of sirens by ambulances coming from Chisoti.

However, Chouhan said, they consider business to be secondary because nothing can be compared to the loss of so many precious lives.

“We can only share the grief of the bereaved families,” he said.

The contrast is striking — while Chisoti reels under physical devastation, the base camp suffers from a quieter crisis, where livelihoods are not destroyed by floodwaters, but by pilgrims who have disappeared.