Sri Lanka to introduce legislation to curb sound pollution

In a landmark move Sri Lanka is to introduce legislation to curb sound pollution for the first time, a minister said here on Friday. Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told media that the government has finalized new legislation that makes it a punishable offense to produce sounds above a certified level. Under this the most prevalent law will be banning vehicles from having horns that produce sound higher than 105 decibels. Sri Lanka is struggling to maintain a healthy environment due to the high level of vehicles that are flooding the streets, particularly in capital Colombo. Vehicle imports in 2010 grew by over 100 percent after the government reduced taxes and even though the limits were raised subsequently there are still a large number of vehicles entering the country every month. Market research company Nielsen in its latest report said that 50 percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million population have at least one vehicle and predicted that numbers would rise with income levels. "Legislation to reduce sound pollution will be presented to parliament within the next few weeks," Yapa said.