Snow-covered meadows and mountains at Gulmarg in Baramulla district, on February 24, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Imran Nissar
Blaming the ruling National Conference (NC) for environmental degradation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s remarks on artificial snow would “have a negative impact on the ski destination of Gulmarg in Kashmir”.
“Mr. Abdullah has introduced the idea of artificial snow for Gulmarg without knowing its side effects. Any unnatural intervention like artificial snow will damage the natural vegetation of the area and impact its growth. Artificial snow will also cause dangerous injuries to skiers. What else can one expect from artificial Chief Minister and his artificial government? Instead, we should focus on increasing the green cover,” BJP leader Abhijeet Jasrotia said.
“Time has come for us to move towards artificial snow generation,” Mr. Abdullah had said the day before the BJP’s statement. He was speaking at the inauguration of the 6th edition of the Khelo India Winter Games in Gulmarg, which has seen scant snowfall and higher temperatures this year.
The BJP blamed the previous regimes for the current environmental degradation in Kashmir. “Once bestowed by green forest ranges, Kashmir has seen massive cutting of forests. We need to ask Mr. Abdullah and his party, which ruled for decades, what measures have they taken,” Mr. Jasrotia said.
Kashmir was set to see a 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius rise in the temperature in the coming years, compared with the 1 to 1.5°C elsewhere in the world. “The Wular Lake is shrinking. Glaciers can’t stand the rising temperatures. Kashmir will face serious issues. Local factors have also played a role in the rising temperatures in Kashmir, especially the cutting of trees and the lack of a concrete policy,” Mr. Jasrotia said.
“[Mughal emperor] Jehangir will have to use air conditioning in February and will get the bill by evening, because there are pre-paid meters in Kashmir. He won’t say the famous verse comparing Kashmir with heaven anymore,” Mr. Jasrotia said.
The BJP leader urged locals to make a pledge and start planting trees. “In this holy month of Ramzan, let’s pledge to hand over trees to children. They should take selfies with the trees on Eid and repeat it every year,” the BJP leader said.
Kashmir has witnessed serious efforts towards afforestation and the tagging of Chinar trees during the Lieutenant-Governor’s rule, Mr. Jasrotia said. “Char Chinari’ [in the Dal lake] has most of its chinars [Platanus orientalis trees] dried up. The Forest Department replaced the chinars and restored the place. Otherwise, it would have been one chinari by now,” the BJP leader said.
Published – February 24, 2026 08:48 pm IST
