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

About 20 km from the cloudbursthit Chisoti, the main base camp for pilgrims visiting the Machail Mata Temple in Kishtwar district tells a dif ferent but equally grim story.

- NL CORRESPONDENT

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 oncebustling market --the biggest in the Padder subdivision ~ wears a deserted look.