Chhawla or Najafgarh drain city forest

Chhawla or Najafgarh drain city forest consists of forestry plantations near the town of Chhawla on both embankments of Najafgarh drain which flows through south west Delhi and which provides refuge to local and migratory wildlife specially waterfowl and other water birds. The area is a subset of the entire Najafgarh drain in rural south west Delhi with forested plantations on both its embankments which has been proposed as the Najafgarh drain bird sanctuary.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the city forest at Chhawla on the banks of the Najafgarh drain in South-West Delhi on Saturday Jun 28, 2008. Over 12,000 saplings were planted. Ms. Dikshit said the greening drive of her government had taken off with the opening of the Chhawla city forest on the banks of Najafgarh Drain. “The drive will conclude in October. In all, nine city forests in different parts would be set up and 18 lakh saplings would be planted during this greening drive in Delhi.” Local MLA Vijay Lochav and State Environment Secretary J. K. Dadoo were among those present on the occasion of inauguration. A large number of children planted 1,000 saplings on the banks of the Najafgarh drain in the presence of the Chief Minister. Describing the new city forest setup on the plantations on the embankment of Najafgarj Drain at Chhawla as another lung of the Capital that would go a long way in ensuring a clean environment, the Chief Minister said the Chhawla city forest was being developed over a 12-hectare terrain that originally belonged to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department. “This land has been handed over to the Environment Department to develop as a city jungle and a boundary wall has been constructed around it. It will fulfil the urban forest requirements and improve the physical and natural environment by controlling various kinds of pollutants. It would also help in developing a potential habitat for resident and migratory wildlife in urban and nearby areas,” Chief Minister added.

The Najafgarh drain or Najafgarh nallah (nallah in Hindi means drain) is just another name for the River Sahibi which continues its flow through Delhi, it is a tributary to River Yamuna in which it outfalls here. Within Delhi it is erroneously called "Najafgarh drain" or "Najafgarh nallah"', it gets this name from the once famous and huge Najafgarh Jheel (lake) near the town of Najafgarh in southwest Delhi and within urbanized Delhi it is the Indian Capital’s most polluted water body due to direct inflow of untreated sewage from surrounding populated areas. A January 2005 report by the Central Pollution Control Board clubs this drain with 13 other highly polluted wetlands under category ‘‘D ’’ for assessing the water quality of wetlands in wildlife habitats.

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Wikipedia