We are a group of senior citizens living in an apartment complex at the intersection between Dharmapala Mawatha and RA De Mel Mawatha. We are being subjected to the incessant blare of air horns of busses and the loud noise emanating from the exhausts of busses (the silencers have been removed and a gadget fixed which emanates a deafening sound). We have written numerous letters to the Ministry of Environment, to senior officials in government, to the newspapers in addition to writing to the Police; we have had absolutely no relief. It has only been the Commissioner of Motor Traffic who has acknowledged a letter and has had the courtesy of informing me that some regulations were in the process of being prepared. The letter was signed by Mr. A.W.Dissanayake Assistant Commissioner (Technical) and that was more than an year ago; are those responsible for preparing these regulations asleep? Surely there must be a reason for them to be pussy-footing on this matter. Is it a lack of interest or some vested interests that are blocking the promulgation of these necessary regulations? This is a shame for there MUST be a law against sound pollution and it must be enforced in the public interest.

This letter is written in sheer desperation as we have had quite a few senior citizens and children falling ill as a result of this sound pollution, the hearing of some have been affected and two ENT specialists will bear us out. Whom do we turn to? We would also like to know why the Police does not take action, for the decibel level of the air horns must surely be in excess of whatever has been stipulated. Is it that some Police personnel own buses? I refuse to believe this, but why is it that they do not act when these wretched bus drivers step on their air horns which are without exaggeration as loud as train sirens, for minutes on end? Could the AG advise us on what we should do to rid ourselves of this menace?