Chhawla or Najafgarh drain city forest consists of forestry plantations near the town of Chhawla on both embankments of Najafgarh drain, which is the delhi-end of Sahibi River originating from Aravalli range mountain in Rajasthan, flowing along the border of Haryana state and south west Delhi in India before converging with Yamuna. It 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. History Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the city forest at Chhawla on the banks of the Najafgarh drain in South-West Delhi on Saturday 28 Jun 2008. Over 12,000 saplings were planted including 1,000 saplings by school children. In all, nine city forests in different parts of Delhi were set up and 18 lakh saplings were planted during that greening drive in Delhi. Chhawla city forest covers a 12-hectare terrain that originally belonged to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and a boundary wall has been constructed around it. Najafgarh drain or nullah The Najafgarh drain or Najafgarh Nallah (nullah 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. Forested embankments The Najafgarh drain has been much widened over the past decades and now has thick mud embankments on both its sides to channel the waters and protect Delhi from floods, these embankments have been planted with thick forest cover which serve as a much needed habitat for remnant local wildlife occurring in nearby and surrounding farmlands including common foxes, jackals, hares, wild cats, nilgai, porcupines and various reptiles and snakes including the dreaded cobras. Many local birds including waterbirds roost and