THREE ‘CHOON PAAN ‘SELLERS FINED

For playing music loud early in the morning three ‘Choon Paan’ sellers fined

A resident of Wellawata had filed action against three ‘Choon Paan’ bakery salesmen for playing music loudly and disturbing their little children who were asleep, in the early mornings.
These mobile bakery product salesmen who sell bread rolls, Jam rolls. Buns, bread and other  pastry items. Such sellers are now found in abundance. They mostly target the residents in by lanes with ’Mosati’ crazy type musical sounds. They go rounds and rounds along many by lanes in the suburban areas of the city tooting this music loudly which now has become a real nuisance to those in dwelling houses.
These ‘Choon Paan’ dealers come in three wheelers with attached show cases and they come at particular times in the mornings and in the evenings. Some people have got so used to it, in the sense they wait for their arrival. Their musical sounds are a nuisance to many, as they do it over a certain limit.
According to the Sri Lankan law sound pollution is prohibited to a certain limit only. For a distance of 3 meters the magnitude of the sound should be decimals 105 and for a distance of 7 metres the magnitude of the sound should be decimals 93, which are the upper limits in respect of these distances. If they exceed these noises it is considered as noise pollution and the offenders could be charged in courts.
At the Colombo Magistrate courts the Police explained that these mobile bakery business salesmen flout the regulations in respect of noise pollution and disturbs places of worship like Temples, Churches, Mosques, Schools and those living in dwelling houses. A number of complaints had been pouring into Police stations in this regard. In order to market the bakery products these bakery product sellers exploit sound to enhance their business by sounding their music loudly above the prescribed limits.
Accordingly action was filed against three such mobile bakery product sellers namely R.Sukumaran, G Premathanthri and Kalinga Sampath. They were fined Rs 2000/- each by the Colombo Magistrate and were thoroughly warned to reduce and adjust the volumes in their music systems in accordance with the stipulated sound ranges.