In another 16 months, the Kala Sanghian drain in Jalandhar will be pollution-free – at least this is what the State of Punjab is claiming. Responding to a petition filed in public interest, the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation has told a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that steps for preventing its pollution were in place, and the drain would be free from pollution by March 31, 2014. The claim came on a petition filed by Seth Hukum Chand Colony Welfare Society against the State of Punjab, the Union of India, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Punjab Small Industries & Export Corporation limited and other respondents. Advocate Amarjeet Markan was appointed as amicus curiae by the court in the matter to plea for the petitioner. The development is significant as the Kala Sanghian drain was reportedly proving “cancerous” for villages located along its banks. The drain joins Chitti Bein, a tributary of the Sutlej, which subsequently merges with the river. It was reportedly playing havoc with human lives and livestock, besides poisoning agricultural land as until recently it was carrying toxic effluents discharged by industrial units in the vicinity. As the matter came up for hearing, an affidavit by Jalandhar Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner Paramjit Singh Jaggi was placed before the Division Bench hearing the matter. Besides short and long-term measures to control pollution in the drain, the affidavit said the work would be completed by March 31, 2014. Taking up the matter, the Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain observed most of the pollution related issues raised in the PIL had already been addressed; and the only issue left was the treatment of sullage water of Jalandhar City. The Bench added no further orders were required to be passed in the case and the matter was being closed.