Flash Flood Memories Loom As Inclement Weather Delays Machail Yatra In Jammu Kashmir

Jammu: A year after deadly flash floods killed dozens and left many missing, inclement weather continues to cast a shadow on the start of the annual Machail Mata pilgrimage in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Wednesday.

The pilgrimage is officially scheduled from July 25 to September 8, while the temple has been open since April, with devotees visiting on their own to pay their obeisance. However, pilgrims have been advised to avoid travelling to the shrine, located on a hilltop in Machail at an elevation of 2,600 to 2,700 meters above sea level.

Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, said the local priest was instructed to perform the necessary rituals to mark the pilgrimage’s start on Saturday, but no one will be allowed to travel to the shrine due to inclement weather.

“Pilgrims will not be permitted to proceed to the shrine until July 27 under any circumstances. After that, if the weather improves, travel will be allowed but only during designated hours,” he told ETV Bharat.

This year, the Kishtwar district administration has issued detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the pilgrimage, urging people to follow these guidelines to ensure smooth operations.

The DC informed that a daily cap of 8000 has been fixed, and no pilgrim beyond this limit will be allowed to move. He said there would be no night travel on the route and the pilgrimage would go between 5 am to 5 pm.

“No one will be allowed beyond checkpoints without having Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) registration, and besides online registration facilities available, two registration centres have been established, one in Kishtwar at Gauri Shankar temple and another at Gulabgarh, Padder, for the smooth registration process,” Sharma said.

On August 14 last year, flash floods struck a langar (community kitchen) in Chishoti village, impacting dozens of people inside. While many were rescued by locals, 98 people died; 68 bodies were recovered, and 38 remain missing.

Following the tragedy, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and local NGOs provided extensive assistance to victims and villagers. The pilgrimage was immediately halted, with only a few priests and a group of devotees from Jammu, carrying the holy Mace, allowed to perform final rituals in September.

Taking a lesson from last year's incident, the administration is now proceeding with caution, instructing langar organisers not to set up units in areas vulnerable to flash floods, landslides, or other hazards.

The J&K police has also started route mapping, sector wise deployment of police force, CCTV cameras, identification of shadow zones where mobile network is not available and check points to check RFID registration details.

At present, the traffic towards Kishtwar from Jammu is not available due to the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway between Udhampur and Chenani, and also due to the closure of the Batote-Kishtwar national highway.

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