South of Delhi is a 6200 hectare stretch of green. This is the Asola-Bhatti area. Once, this area was barren land, but the good times began when the area was declared a reserve forest. Years of overgrazing and the cutting of wood by people from nearby villages in the Bhatti area had completely denuded the natural forest cover. Mining was rampant as it was a source of building material. So all you could see earlier were empty trenches of red soil. Mining was banned in the Bhatti area in 1989-90 by the Supreme Court. It was notified as a sanctuary in 1991under the Indian Forests Act and was declared a reserve forest in 1996 by the Supreme Court. With the effort of forest department, the area now has got a different look. The Delhi government in 1999 hired the eco task force of the Territorial Army at a cost of Rs 7 crore to plant saplings in the area and utilize it for water conservation.