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CMC arrests sound pollution

by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi

The Colombo Municipal Council's battle against sound pollution within the city limits has finally borne fruit with the offenders themselves voluntarily agreeing to abide by municipal conditions.

"Many sound polluting places have reduced their activities following the guidelines given by us", a Municipal official said.

The new action program to curb sound pollution was launched a few weeks ago coinciding with the World Environment Day and so far around 40 complaints have been received by the Municipal Health officials.

The majority complaints were against places of religious worship, restaurants, play grounds, karoke bars and eating houses where Kottu rotti is prepared.

The CMC has initially deployed twelve highly trained health inspectors to carry out day and night inspections to prevent increasing sound pollution in the city and ensure better living condition for the citizens.

Municipal Health officials say sound pollution creates serious problems in major cities and leads to severe health hazards such as high blood pressure, hearing loss, insomnia and depression.

"The Public could make complaints to the Municipal Health division at any time and once a complaint is received, health official will inspect the scene and measure the sound. Steps are taken to take legal action against offenders under the Nuisance Ordinance." an official told the Daily News.

However, the official said so far no legal action has been taken against anyone as sound pollution places had adhered to the guidelines of the municipality.

The official said this was the first time that a program to curb sound pollution was launched. "There are also complaints from the public against sound pollution created by traffic in residential areas during the night specially by containers," he added.

Official said citizens themselves are also forming groups to fight against this nuisance.The Public could make complaints on 696594 during the day time and 421454 in the night.

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